Malaysians have been urged to be more disciplined in using the MySejahtera application developed by the government to enable the implementation of self-assessment to control the spread of COVID-19 infection.

Deputy Health Minister, Datuk Dr Noor Azmi Ghazali said that the failure of the people, especially individuals returning from abroad, to use the application, could cause an increase in cases of the infection among the community.

“We are concerned about people’s carelessness and thoughtlessness after the Movement Control Order (MCO) was lifted. For example, those who have just returned from abroad are subject to Home Surveillance Order (HSO) but are violating rules such as leaving home, cutting off the wristband (COVID-19 detection) and failing to do self-assessment.

“We found (a study) showed that 24.6 per cent of the 31,000 individuals subjected to HSO did not conduct self-assessment using the MySejahtera application. They should do it every day but didn’t,” he told Bernama after appearing as a guest on the Jendela Fikir programme produced by Bernama Radio, today.

He said quarantined individuals who were not using the application had made it difficult for the relevant parties to track their whereabouts and assess their health status, on top of their failure to comply with the directives, and would face legal action.

Dr Noor Azmi said that the MySejahtera application was useful to help the Ministry of Health identify close contacts in the event of a COVID-19 infection in the community, besides preventing the emergence of new clusters such as the PUI Sivagangga Cluster in Kedah and the Sentosa Cluster in Kuching.

Yesterday, Health director-general Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said the government would gazette the use of MySejahtera application in all premises nationwide through the Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases Act 1988 (Act 342).

Meanwhile, Dr Noor Azmi said that the mandatory use of face masks on public transport and in crowded public places effective Aug 1 was the right step taken by the government to curb the spread of the COVID-19 epidemic.

On the Recovery Movement Control Order (RMCO), from June 10 to Aug 31, he said that the government would make a decision based on the facts of the current situation and changes in the development of zero infection in the country.

“Whether RMCO continues or otherwise, or another MCO, it will depend on the situation,” he said. - BERNAMA