Asking Malaysians not to dismiss the efforts by the fire and rescue department in carrying out public sanitisation exercises, she said this was also aimed at destroying other viruses and germs.

She was responding to infectious diseases expert Dr Adeeba Kamarulzaman’s recent statement on how such public sanitisation exercises were a waste of resources.

“The exercise may have been misunderstood. The sanitisation is conducted to kill all viruses and germs, not just the coronavirus,” she told reporters after a visit to the Kampung Ampang Indah public hall vaccination centre (PPV).

Recently, Adeeba hinted that the large-scale two-day disinfection exercise at 284 locations nationwide was a waste of limited resources, which she said could be better used to purchase equipment needed in the war against Covid-19.

Adeeba, who is a member of the World Health Organization’s Science Council, said the resources should be spent on personal protective equipment (PPE) and food for volunteers, among others.

In April, Universiti Putra Malaysia public health expert associate professor Dr Malina Osman also said that sanitisation only needed to be carried out based on the risk assessment of an area, rather than as a routine exercise.

In defending the ministry’s public sanitisation exercises, an aide to the housing and local government minister, Nor Hizwan, had earlier on singled out Adeeba and told her to focus on Selangor, where the highest number of Covid-19 cases are recorded every day.

Adeeba is also a member of the Selangor Covid-19 Task Force.

CLICK HERE FOR THE LATEST DATA ON THE COVID-19 SITUATION IN MALAYSIA