Health Director-General Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah speaks during a daily press conference on Covid-19 cases at the Ministry of Health, Putrajaya February 16, 2021. — Bernama pic
KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 14 — The recently proposed amendments to the Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases Act 1988 (Act 342), similar to the Emergency Ordinances (EO) that were invoked to fight Covid-19, are needed as they were proven to be effective, Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said.
In a media briefing today to explain the rationale for the proposed amendments to the Act, Dr Noor Hisham said that it was also not viable to impose the same RM1,000 fine on individual offenders and companies or organisations that violate the Covid-19 standard operating procedures (SOPs).
Currently, Act 342, confers the DG the power to impose a maximum of RM1,000 fine against both individuals and companies or organisations, following the repeal of the Emergency Ordinances (EOs) in Dewan Negara on December 8.
However, under the amendment Bill of the Act, compounds have been hiked to a maximum of RM10,000 for individuals and up to RM1 million for corporations.
“So we are still in a war against Covid-19. Our war has not yet ended. We are still in the transition phase towards an endemic phase and recently, we were challenged again with a new variant, that is Omicron, and we need this EO to be amended as soon as possible, so we can execute control and prevention activities for infectious diseases.
“And the provisions under the EO were found to be effective and helpful in our Covid-19 infectious disease control measures. That is when we were using the EO, we had made amendments so that the Act or rules that we have, can help in controlling the spread of the disease, and to date, God willing we could use the EO well, to control the spread of Covid-19,” Dr Noor Hisham said.
MORE TO COME