SUNGAI BULOH: There will be no national lockdown for monkeypox (mpox) like what was seen during the Covid-19 pandemic, says Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad.
He said the government was taking every measure necessary to keep the disease out of the country and ruled out lockdowns such as the movement control orders (MCO) issued during the pandemic.
He said measures against mpox included stringent health screening on inbound international travellers with over six million checked so far.
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“This involves the screening of all international points of entry by sea, air and land.
“Of the six million travelers screened so far, 52 were suspected cases but have since (tested negative).
“As such, there has not been a single positive case of mpox to emerge in our country so far this year," he said in his speech at a ministry training institute here on Tuesday (Sep 10).
Dzulkefly also urged the public to stay calm and alert because some neighbouring countries have detected mpox cases.
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“While we will avoid implementing any lockdown like the Covid-19 MCO, I want to remind the people to not become too relaxed either as we know how infectious mpox can be.
“At the same time, I want to remind the public to remain calm as no cases have been recorded so far in Malaysia,” he said.
So far, variants of mpox have appeared in limited numbers in Singapore, Indonesia, the Philippines and Thailand.
