Relaxation of SOPs deliberated carefully to ensure safety of people - Khairy

KAJANG: The relaxation of several standard operating procedures (SOP) that will be announced on Wednesday, has been deliberated carefully to ensure the safety of the people, said Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin.

He said the government did not want to make a mistake and let all efforts to curb the spread of COVID-19 to go in vain.

"The MOH (Ministry of Health) has discussed the matter thoroughly, we will present it to the Cabinet this Wednesday, and if approved, we will announce it," he said after launching the Generational End Game Anti-Smoking 18 (GEGAR-18) programme at Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan Bandar Seri Putra, here today.

Also present was Senior Education Minister Datuk Dr Radzi Md Jidin.

Meanwhile, Khairy said so far a total of 1,939 individuals had received a second booster shot with most of them getting the dose on a walk-in basis.

On the the haj pilgrimage, he said the MOH would issue a new protocol following the requirements imposed by the Saudi Arabian government on pilgrims this year.

"We will also make sure that there are enough health workers to help our pilgrims there. We will provide preparation guidelines for the pilgrimage soon," he said.

A total of 14,306 Malaysian pilgrims are allowed to perform haj this year.

Among the requirements for the pilgrims to be allowed to perform the haj are to be no older than 65 and fully vaccinated against COVID-19.

-- BERNAMA