Hard to detect outbreak if MySejahtera check-in removed, says ex-deputy health minister

SHAH ALAM - Former deputy health minister Dr Lee Boon Chye says the nation is ready to move away from wearing face masks as more people are vaccinated but disagrees with doing away with MySejahtera check-in.

He said mandatory scanning of MySejahtera before entering a premise was crucial to curb an outbreak of a new variant.

"Once you remove that, it is difficult to reactivate back immediately, and its a bad decision to remove MySejahtera check-in at this point of time.

"We should mantain it until the pandemic is over," he told Sinar Daily.

Yesterday, Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin said starting May 1, it was no longer compulsory for MySejahtera check-in when entering public places or premises. However, people are encouraged to activate the MySJ Trace function in their MySejahtera app for the purpose of contact tracing.

Dr Lee also disagrees with traveller not needing to do the Covid test as World Health Organisation (WHO) was still warning countries over the ongoing war against Covid-19.

"It means there is still a substantial amount of population globally who are transmitting the virus and there are always possibilities of new variant coming in," he said.

Due to that, he urged Putrajaya to ensure travellers are tested and scanning of MySejahtera is maintained till WHO declares that the pandemic is over.

"If there are no new variants, WHO would probably declare that pandemic is over," he said.

From May 1, people no longer need to wear while outdoors, however it is still mandatory to mask up indoors except while having a meal, exercising or doing a performance.