We may as well not bother with quarantine, think tank says on 3-day ruling

(FMT) – A think tank said today Putrajaya’s three-day rule for ministers returning from abroad was “baseless”, as criticism continues to mount against the controversial ruling.

Galen Centre for Health and Social Policy said the ruling, which the government is mulling extending to business travellers, had no basis in anything that the country currently knew about the virus, including transmission risk and how the disease spread.

“We might as well not bother with a quarantine at all for those returning from abroad if we are going to be indiscriminate about the quarantine period,” its chief executive Azrul Mohd Khalib told FMT.

His comments follow the clarification by health director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah (pic) on the ruling.

Yesterday, Noor Hisham said only ministers who took private flights and did not make any public appearances would be allowed to undergo an “observation” for three days.

He also said those using regular commercial flights would have to undergo quarantine like everyone else.

Azrul said an “official” trip didn’t make it any less risky or reduce infectivity. Risk was dependent on how much exposure and interaction with others they had had, and their adherence to standard operating procedures, he said.

“It only takes one unprotected exposure to get infected. It doesn’t depend on quantity or volume of people.”

Azrul also took issue with Putrajaya’s plan to relax the quarantine duration from 10 days to three for business travellers.

Malaysiakini reported health minister Dr Adham Baba as saying that this was aimed at opening up the economy.

But Azrul said the emergence and increasing spread of Covid-19 variants should give everyone pause.

He said even after vaccines were deployed in the population, constant vigilance was needed together with continued adherence to quarantines and SOPs.

This, he said, was to protect “our gains in controlling the spread of the disease and protect our vulnerable populations”.

“Neither has effectively happened yet, but we are already talking about reopening borders indiscriminately. This is premature and dangerous.”