Investigation papers may be opened on errant parents

PETALING JAYA: Investigation papers may be opened on parents who continually expose their children to the Covid-19 virus, says Datuk Seri Dr Adham Baba.

The Health Minister said that although compounds would not be issued, investigations might be opened if there was deliberate violation of standard operating procedure.

“Parents should obey the SOP and protect high-risk groups, including children.

“We will give advice, and according to Act 342, we won’t issue compounds to those who bring their children to crowded areas.

“However, with the SOP issued by the National Security Council, parents who violate or who still expose their children to the virus, we can open investigation papers to assess (the matter), ” he said in a press conference yesterday.

He said that children aged under 18 years old who were found to have contracted the Covid-19 virus now number over 82,000.

Infected children below the age of four number 19,851, those aged five to six number 8,237, seven to 12 number 26,851, while those aged 13 to 17 number 27,402.

Meanwhile, Dr Adham also said the average Covid-19 test positivity rate in Malaysia was 6.89% in epidemiological week 21 (May 23 to 29), with some states having even exceeded 10%.

The threshold set by WHO for adequate testing is a 5% positivity rate.

The positivity rate refers to the portion of positive Covid-19 cases that were detected out of the total tests conducted.

Higher positivity rates mean that more testing should be done, as it suggests that there are more people with the disease in the community who have not been detected yet.

Dr Adham said that measures were being taken by the Health Ministry to enhance Covid-19 testing, especially in states with high positivity rates.

Kelantan is the state with the highest positivity rate at 11.84%, followed by Negri Sembilan at 10.03% and Labuan at 8.78%.

Other states with high positivity rates are Labuan (8.78%), Putrajaya (8.61%), Selangor (7.99%), Melaka (7.95%), Kedah (7.70%), Terengganu (5.8%), Sarawak (5.79%), Johor (5.79%), Kuala Lumpur (5.72%), Penang (5.66%) and Pahang (5.44%).

The states which fall below the WHO threshold are Perak (4.78%), Sabah (3.83%) and Perlis (3.79%).

Dr Adham also said that the ministry had conducted full genome sequences on 447 samples as at May 24.

Cumulatively, 78 samples were of the South African B.1.351 variant, six were of the Indian B.1.617 variant, while another eight were of the UK B.1.1.7 variant.