COVID-19 PANDEMIC: PETALING JAYA, Malaysia- 3-day quarantine not enough, say experts

PETALING JAYA: A quarantine period of three days is insufficient as documented evidence has shown the median incubation period of the Covid-19 infection to be approximately seven to eight days.

Epidemiologists pointed out that there is no absolute cut-off in the duration of quarantine but isolation periods should be uniformed for everyone.

“Reducing the quarantine period from 10 days to three days leads to a higher risk of not detecting an infection,” University of Malaya Epidemiology and Public Health Professor Dr Sanjay Rampal said yesterday.

He was commenting on Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Adham Baba’s announcement that ministers who travel abroad on official visits would only need to undergo a three-day quarantine upon returning to the country.

However, Sanjay added that this risk could be mitigated by testing prior to travel and testing on arrival.

“On average, approximately 50% of cases will become symptomatic by day five to day six post exposure,” he said.

“The duration of quarantine for incoming travellers to Malaysia should be standardised based on objective criteria. Baseline risk of infection in countries travelled in the past 14 days may be approximated as new cases per 100,000 population.”

In addition, Sanjay said while the transmissibility of Covid-19 appears to have decreased with the time-varying reproductive number being consistently below 1.00 since Feb 6, the magnitude of reduction is much smaller than during the first movement control order (MCO).

“This attenuation may be a result of the initial higher community transmission and an overwhelmed public health workforce,” he said.

Universiti Putra Malaysia medical epidemiologist Assoc Prof Dr Malina Osman said science-based decisions are needed to avoid confusion among the public.

“From an epidemiology point of view, a uniform format based on scientific evidence is needed,” she said.

Malina pointed out that in pandemic management, there are various factors that lead to a spike in new cases.

“One of the important factors is compliance with preventive measures. Any violation of any sort could possibly lead to a potential new case or worse, a new cluster,” she said.

On the other hand, Health Director-General Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah had said the move for a three-day quarantine period for ministers was not a “blanket procedure”.

The length of the period of incubation would depend on the risk evaluation conducted by the Health Ministry before a minister departs for the trip, he said

“I would like to emphasise the wording of the provision, in which a minister who returns from an official visit abroad could be placed under surveillance for a period of seven days or 14 days and have the surveillance period extended to 21 days until the ministry is satisfied that the minister would not pose any danger to the public after being discharged.

“The three-day period would only be granted after a risk evaluation and once the ministry is satisfied with the travel bubble related to the official visit.”