GE15: Covid-19 positive voters can skip polling queue – KJ

SHAH ALAM - Covid-19 positive voters may skip the queue at polling centres on Nov 19 says caretaker Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin.

He explained that they needed to first identify themselves to the Health Ministry personnel assigned at polling stations.

"The health personnel will check the positively tested voters’ status on MySejahtera before escorting them to the polling room,” he said at a press conference at Hospital Sungai Buloh.

The Star reported that they would not have a special polling stream for Covid-19 positive but they would be escorted by Health Ministry personnel to the voting room instead of queueing with other voters so they could leave the polling station as soon as possible.

The decision was made as a result of a risk assessment carried out to determine the safety of non-positive voters at the polls, according to the Barisan Nasional candidate for the Sungai Buloh parliamentary seat.

The incumbent Rembau Member of Parliament further informed that Covid-19 individuals were also subject to other polling Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) which include dipping their finger in indelible ink after voting.

Nonetheless, he assured that it would be safe for the rest of the voters as all of them were obliged to sanitise their hands before doing so.

Khairy also reminded fellow Malaysians that the Health Ministry had Covid-19 cases in the country under control despite waves of infections from time to time, and so, it was safe to go out on polling day.

He added that Malaysia was on its way to endemicity "very, very soon.”

While it was compulsory for Covid-19 positive citizens to put on a face mask at the polling centres, Khairy also encouraged others to do the same, considering the risks of being in a crowded place potentially of thousands of people.