Vaccine, movement control can beat spread of COVID-19

Malaysian Public Health Medicine Specialist Association president Datuk Dr Zainal Ariffin Omar said the two actions must be implemented and mobilised hand-in-hand by all parties to ensure the country can flatten the pandemic's infection curve.

He said the vaccination programme currently must be improved so that it is more systematic to encompass the registration and vaccination process.

He said the capability of public and private health facilities must be maximised to speed up the process of vaccination to about 10 million registered under the National COVID-19 Immunisation Programme (PICK).

"The government must increase the involvement of the private health sector and health-based non-government organisations (NGO) to together vaccinate the people at all types of health facilities when the supply of vaccines stabilises.

"I think all parties are prepared to help the Ministry of Health (MOH). In fact, maybe we can consider implementing vaccinations the whole day or for 24-hour, so that more people can get their shots,'' he said when contacted by Bernama recently.

Dr Zainal Ariffin said other approaches were performing vaccinations in hotspot areas such as localities under the Enhanced Movement Control Order (EMCO).

He also said the government must also scrutinise all prior plans which might be no longer suitable with current needs as there is always room for improvement.

"If we notice, many people want the COVID-19 vaccination as indicated on MySejahtera and the voluntary registrations for the AstraZeneca vaccine. This is a signal to the government to speed up the vaccination process,'' he said.

In addition, Dr Zainal Ariffin also suggested that the National Security Council (MKN) also study all standard operating procedures (SOP) to ensure they are suitable according to needs.

He said this must also take into account the characteristics of the virus which were now mutating and resulting in the existence of variant of concerns (VOC) which could spread more easily.

Other than the enforcement of the SOP on the operating time of the economic sector, a control of the movements of people from their homes must be implemented such as allowing only one or two family members to do so for daily activities and important businesses.

"Studies have found that COVID-19 is also spread via airborne other than droplets, as such it is important for the people to realise this and obey the 'avoid 3 S' practise, namely, don't chat at close range, avoid congested areas and narrow spaces.

"Check the pandemic situation in surrounding areas through the MySejahtera COVID-19 Hotspots first before leaving the house.

"Stay at home if there is no important need to go out and wear a mask as recommended if you have to leave the house,'' he said.

In May this year alone, the country recorded the highest figure in new COVID-19 positive cases and deaths almost daily.

The cumulative cases as of yesterday (May 27) was 541,224 people while the death toll stood at 2,491 cases.