Khairy said the government could enforce the Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases Act 1988 (Act 342) again, which was the provision used previously to issue compounds before Malaysia transitioned to the endemic phase since April 1.
The health minister said the wearing of face masks indoors was among the areas where there had been a lack of compliance in the Covid-19 SOPs.
“If Covid-19 cases continue to rise rapidly, the health ministry will not hesitate to enforce Act 342 again,” he said at a press conference.
Khairy said the health ministry decided on April 17 to stop issuing compound notices to those who violated SOPs, in line with the country’s transition to the endemic phase.
He said he hoped the health ministry would not have to resort to enforcement action again as the people should already know what to do, having lived through the pandemic.
“Plus, if we have to issue compounds, many of my minister colleagues would get it,” he said, in jest.
Previously, several ministers had reportedly violated Covid-19 SOPs, namely defence minister Hishammuddin Hussein, communications and multimedia minister Annuar Musa, and economic affairs minister Mustapa Mohamed.
He said there was a 31% increase in Covid-19 cases in the past five days compared with the week before, adding that the highly infectious BA.5 Omicron sub-variant could be the cause.
However, Khairy said the drop in the number of RT-PCR testing, which enables the ministry to conduct genome sequencing, meant that the actual number of infections involving the BA.5 variant may be higher than recorded.
The health ministry predicted that the number of new Covid-19 cases will continue to rise over the next three months and advised those who have yet to receive their booster vaccine to do so as soon as possible.
Khairy said as of July 7, only 68.6% of the adult population had taken their third dose of vaccine and only 6.1% had taken their second booster shot.
He added that those aged five to 17 who are immunocompromised were also encouraged to obtain their booster shots at least two months after their second dose.
The health ministry also expected an increase in new cases due to the Hari Raya Aidiladha celebration on Sunday, with more people returning to their hometowns.
He advised the public to self-test, especially if they will be visiting relatives who were at high risk of being infected with Covid-19.
In other developments, Khairy said the investigation into the death of a 43-year-old patient due to cardiac arrest at the Raja Permaisuri Bainun Hospital in Ipoh in April, will be conducted by a special task force on July 14.
He also announced that 91 medical officers had been approved to be transferred to Hospital Kuala Lumpur (HKL) and Hospital Tunku Azizah (HTA) on July 18 in light of the upcoming exit of doctors which raised concerns over a shortage of doctors at the two hospitals earlier this month.
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