Review of Covid-19 SOPs to prepare for endemic stage, says Dr Noor Azmi

KUALA LUMPUR: A review of the standard operating procedures (SOPs) will be carried out to prepare the nation for when Covid-19 becomes endemic, says Datuk Dr Noor Azmi Ghazali (pic).

"As we enter the endemic phase, improvements will be made to the SOPs and new ones will be introduced," the Deputy Health Minister I said when replying to a supplementary question raised by Hannah Yeoh (PH-Segambut) in the Dewan Rakyat on Tuesday (Sept 28).

He added that a meeting will be held soon to discuss the review of the SOPs based on the advice of the Health Ministry.

He added that the National Security Council is looking at lessening the SOP during the endemic phase.

Yeoh wanted to know if the current SOP would be reviewed as nothing had been done since they were implemented in March last year.

Abdul Latiff Abdul Rahman (PN-Kuala Krai) wanted to know if manual registration would still be in use or whether an individual's temperature would still be taken although Covid-19 cases may be asymptomatic in the future.

Dr Noor Azmi said that the manual registration would still be in use, particularly in the rural areas where internet connectivity may be an issue.

On a related issue, he said that the use of the MySejahtera app has become a normal practice for most Malaysians since it was introduced in April last year.

He noted that some 27.7mil individuals have registered with the MySejahtera app with 12.5mil business premises using it.

"An average of 25.8mil sign-ins are done through the MySejahtera app a day.

"So far, the app has registered a total of 8.2bil sign-ins," he added.

On the uses of electronic heat sensing thermometers, Dr Noor Azmi said that there were some premises which were using devices that were not approved by the ministry.