COVID-19: Borders, entry points to be strengthened - Health DG

Strengthening security at all entry points and borders needs to be done to contain the spread of COVID-19, said Health Director-General Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah.

He said the Ministry of Health (MOH) is working closely with the Malaysian Armed Forces (ATM) on the matter and the measures were bought up during the National Security Council (MKN) meeting last week.

"We will make sure our entry points, for example, airports and borders as well, are strengthened and the ATM has promised us that all entry points have already been strengthened.

"That's what we have been doing for the last one week. But more importantly, those coming back from overseas, we have isolated them, in that sense we have quarantined them from April 3," he said at the MOH daily press conference on COVID-19 here today.

Dr Noor Hisham said in the past, the government allowed those returning from abroad to be quarantined at home but now all returnees have to be put in quarantine centres and hotels.

Asked about the 202 illegal immigrants, believed to be Rohingyas, detained in Langkawi yesterday, Dr Noor Hisham said the ministry was conducting screenings on them.

-- BERNAMA