ID :
66516
Fri, 06/19/2009 - 08:16
Auther :

MANDATORY NOW TO FILL HEALTH DECLARATION FORM




KUALA LUMPUR, June 18 (Bernama) -- All visitors and Malaysians returning
from abroad will be required to fill the health declaration form following the
Influenza A (H1N1) pandemic, Muhyiddin Yassin said Thursday.

The deputy prime minister said the form would be gazetted next week.

Individuals who failed to fill the form could be jailed up to two years or
fined RM10,000, or both, he said.

"Currently, it is not mandatory to fill the form and it's only done on a
voluntary basis. This was started a few months ago.

"Today we agreed that the form be gazetted and it will be done next week,"
he said after chairing the first meeting of the National Inter-ministerial
Committee on the Influenza A (H1N1) Pandemic at the Parliament House here.

The gazette was one of 10 measures announced by Muhyiddin to tackle the
disease which has spread to Malaysia.

Malaysia recorded its first local transmission of Influenza A(H1N1)
Wednesday, involving a 17-year-old Malaysian female student.

So far, up to 8am Wednesday, 22 "imported" cases had been reported
nationwide, involving 13 Malaysians, seven foreigners, one permanent resident
and one resident American, while 904 people were under monitoring.

Thursday's inter-ministerial committee meeting, which lasted about two
hours, also decided on nine other measures to be taken by the government and
relevant quarters to check the spread of the disease in the country.

Muhyiddin said the social distancing measure of prohibiting gatherings,
public functions and closing schools for certain periods was important in
containing the disease at any one location.

"However, this will only be done after we (the government) decide to do so.
We do not give the mandate to schools or departments to implement it. The
decision will be made by the National Security Council," he said.

Muhyiddin advised hospitals to reduce the number of visitors and to prohibit
children below the age of 12 years from visiting patients.

Other measures decided upon today included enforcement of laws to ensure
that local councils kept public toilets clean, seasonal influenza vaccination of
people in at-risk groups, transport operators providing face masks to passengers
prone to influenza, and scanning for body temperature at government and private
hospitals.

Muhyiddin said the management of agencies or ministries providing essential
services had to ensure that their frontliners maintained personal hygiene to
prevent the spread of the influenza.

He also said that health and body temperature checks for passengers from
places at risk of transmission of the disease, such as the United States,
Melbourne (Australia) and Manila (the Philippines), would be conducted on the
aircraft.

Muhyiddin asked the Information Communication and Culture Ministry to
intensify the pandemic awareness campaign through the mass media.

Meanwhile, Health Minister Liow Tiong Lai said there was no reason to panic
owing to the first local transmission of the disease as the authorities had the
situation under control.

Director-General of Health Dr Mohd Ismail Merican said the health
authorities had placed under home quarantine all the 20 female students who had
come into contact with the girl infected locally.
-- BERNAMA

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