PETALING JAYA: The public is giving the thumbs up to the removal of compulsory temperature checks at premises as more Covid-19 carriers are asymptomatic.
However, they want the building or business owner to be strict about other standard operating procedures (SOP) to curb the spread of the virus.
Freelancer Syafiqah Iman, 28, from Kelana Jaya, said entry into malls would be smoother with the removal of temperature screening points.
But she added that the establishment must continue to ensure adherence to physical distancing, inspection of a person’s MySejahtera status and wearing face masks.
“The management should ensure that these are in place as there will always be visitors who still go to public spaces even when they don’t feel well,” she said, adding that temperature screening was no longer useful in the current scenario.
A senior executive from here who only wished to be known as Azai agreed, saying that “temperature checks are becoming less useful as more people could be asymptomatic”.
“Plus, some stores don’t even monitor the screening properly so it wouldn’t serve any purpose,” said the 40-year-old.
On Tuesday, Senior Minister (Defence) Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein announced that temperature checks and manual recording of personal particulars for entry into premises will be abolished tomorrow.
Original Penang Kayu Nasi Kandar managing director Burhan Mohamed also welcomed the announcement, saying thermal screening no longer served any purpose.
“There’s no point in having people’s temperatures checked because some of them do not show symptoms,” he said.
Health experts said the public should already be sufficiently enlightened to undertake relevant preventive measures against Covid-19.
Universiti Putra Malaysia epidemiologist Associate Prof Dr Malina Osman said the people should already be well aware that they should avoid visiting public places if they were unwell.
“In my opinion, the removal of temperature screening and manual recording is mainly for practical reasons. The procedures are no longer utilised for surveillance and contact tracing by Health Ministry,” she said.
Prof Moy Foong Ming of Universiti Malaya’s Department of Social and Preventive Medicine concurred, saying that due emphasis should be on the importance of self-discipline and sense of responsibility.
“After going through the pandemic for more than two years, we hope the public are more responsible and will go into quarantine if they are infected,” she said, adding that temperature screening was now redundant, especially with the Omicron variant, which tends to show milder symptoms.
However, malls under the Sunway Group will continue with thermal screening, saying it is for the benefit of all.
Sunway Malls and Theme Parks chief executive officer HC Chan said the company also encouraged its tenants to continue with thermal screening.
He said temperature monitoring was only one of the group’s mall network’s precautionary moves.
“Our personnel perform two other checks apart from temperature checks, which is MySejahtera risk status as well as a person’s vaccination status for anyone entering our malls.
“We feel that safety should not be compromised and needs to be top priority,” Chan said when contacted.