Health Ministry to make announcement on face mask mandate soon, says Khairy

KUALA LUMPUR: An announcement on whether the face mask mandate for enclosed spaces is to be withdrawn will be made very soon, says Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin (pic).

"We have already discussed it internally, more or less we know what the decision is. Give me a few days," he told a media conference after the launch of the National Innovation and Sandbox Health Technology Hub at MRANTI Park here on Friday (Sept 2).

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Khairy was responding to the statement by the Malaysian Medical Association (MMA) on Wednesday urging the government to review its policy on the mandatory wearing of face masks in enclosed spaces, following a similar decision made by many other countries, including Singapore.

MMA president Dr Koh Kar Chai said this was because the number of Covid-19 cases in the country had reached a "plateau of sorts" and the number of hospitalisations due to the virus was not high.

Prior to this, National Recovery Council chairman Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said a decision on whether to abolish the use of face masks in enclosed spaces would be looked into and decided by the Health Ministry.

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Meanwhile, Khairy said the Ministry was still studying the decision by the United States’ Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to authorise booster shots that target the Omicron BA.5 subvariant.

The Ministry had its own technical working group for Covid-19 vaccines which would evaluate the data before making its recommendation, Khairy said. - Bernama