PUTRAJAYA: Primary school pupils will be required to undergo weekly Covid-19 screenings beginning Monday (Nov 29), said Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin.
He said the move was part of the National Covid-19 Testing Strategy (NTS) that required primary pupils to undergo screening as they are not eligible to receive the Covid-19 vaccine due to their age.
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It was also aimed at preventing the emergence of Covid-19 clusters in schools, he said.
“Tests should be implemented on at least 10 per cent of the sample (students) of the school population by rotation, on a different sample each week and should be carried out regardless of whether the pupils have symptoms or not,” he said.
The NTS document can be accessed at https://covid-19.moh.gov.my/reopeningsafely/nts.
According to the document, screenings should be done using the self-test RTK-Antigen kits with monitoring from the school.
On the Sinovac Covid-19 vaccine, Khairy said Health Ministry and Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Ministry will set the ceiling price, which would be announced next week.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of Health (MOH) will always be transparent and inform the public if there are deaths due to the Covid-19 vaccine or booster dose, said Khairy.
He said thus far, no deaths had been directly linked to the vaccine, with the confirmation by three committees.
The committees are the Covid-19 Vaccine Special Pharmacovigilance Committee; the Special Financial Assistance Steering Committee for Covid-19 Vaccine Exigencies and the Medical Technical Committee.
He said the sharing of the post-mortem report on the death of the senior principal assistant director at MOH headquarters, Dr Chai Koh Meow, showed that the ministry did not hide any information from the public.
Meanwhile, Health Director-General Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said the MOH had obtained permission from the family of the late Dr Chai to share the findings of the autopsy report.
“The autopsy result stated that the cause of Dr Chai’s death was hemopericardium due to coronary heart disease and myocardial infarction,” he said.
Dr Chai passed away on Nov 17, and his death was speculated to have been linked to a booster dose he received on Nov 9.
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