Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas at a recent SDMC press conference. – File photo
KUCHING (Jan 15): Sarawak will continue to test every individual identified as close contacts of Covid-19 patients although the Ministry of Health has now decided to swab only those exhibiting symptoms of the virus.
Sarawak Disaster Management Committee chairman Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embase said the state would not follow the latest MoH directive to confine tests to close contacts who have symptoms.
“We have our own standard operating procedure and will continue as usual,” he told The Borneo Post when contacted.
Uggah, who is a deputy chief minister, also said there was no shortage of Covid-19 test kits in Sarawak even as cases rose to 180 yesterday, the state’s highest single tally since the pandemic reached its shores last March.
News portal, MalaysiaKini, reported yesterday that it had sighted a MoH circular which said it would no longer test every individual identified as close contacts to Covid-19 positive patients and instead only test those with symptoms.
“All close contacts must be identified, ordered to undergo isolation and monitoring at home. However, Covid-19 screening test would be done only on close contacts who are symptomatic,” the circular reportedly said.
The MoH had also limited the number of samples being taken according to the number of people being tested for the virus in an infection cluster.
Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah later confirmed that the Health Ministry had mandated the new procedures and that the new plan was devised as they were now allowing Covid-19 patients to undergo isolation at home or in the case of workers, at hostels or hotels at their employers’ expense.
“Priority is to test symptomatic individuals first,” he said in the MalaysiaKini report.
The circular also states that close contacts who have been tested and found negative have to be quarantined “in cohort” at a suitable residential facility, based on risk assessment of the exposed individuals.
Quarantine will last 10 days from the last date of close contact with a Covid-19 positive patient. If any in the group starts showed symptoms for the virus, the individual must be isolated and undergo a swab test.
In the event an individual tests positive, then the other members of the cohort have to continue their quarantine for another 10 days.