Day: January 11, 2022

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 11 — The government will not reimpose the Movement Control Order (MCO), but stricter control measures will be implemented at the country’s entry and exit points in a bid to curb COVID-19.

Senior Defence Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein said taking into account the latest development involving the Omicron variant, the control measures will be improved, including by adding more countries to the high-risk list.

“So far, 245 cases of Omicron variant were confirmed in Malaysia. The majority of the cases still involved those returning from overseas.

“We will implement stricter control, but full-scale MCO will not be implemented again,” he told a press conference after the COVID-19 quartet ministers’ meeting here today.

Also present were Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin, Transport Minister Datuk Seri Wee Ka Siong and National Unity Minister Datuk Halimah Mohamed Saddique.

Hishammuddin said the government’s focus right now is on the efforts to transition into the endemic phase which had been hampered by several issues before.

He said the government was also monitoring closely the current status of the Malaysia-Singapore Vaccinated Travel Line (VTL) initiative by looking into possibilities to implement it with other countries, including Indonesia and Thailand.

“However, this depends on the COVID-19 situation, not only in those countries but also in ours,” he said.

Meanwhile, on the standard operating procedures (SOPs) for Thaipusam and Chinese New Year celebrations, Hishammuddin said the Ministry of Health and other stakeholders were in the midst of finalising the SOPs.

He said it would be announced soon by the relevant ministries.

Source: BERNAMA News Agency

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 11 — A total of 2,327 flood evacuees are still housed at temporary relief centres (PPS) in Melaka, Pahang and Johor this afternoon.

In MELAKA, state Malaysian Civil Defence Force (APM) director, Lt Col (PA) Cuthbert John Martin Quadra, said that the number of flood victims in the state had dropped to 112 people from 33 families at 4 pm today, compared with 124 people from 36 families reported at 8 am this morning; all of them were placed at three PPS in Jasin.

In PAHANG, the number of flood victims decreased slightly this afternoon to 61 people, compared with 66 people this morning, according to the state Disaster Management Committee Secretariat.

These individuals, from 12 families, are housed in the PPS of Sekolah Kebangsaan Temai in Pekan, which is the last PPS still operating in the state.

In JOHOR, the number of flood victims also decreased to 2,154 people as of 4 pm, compared with 2,298 individuals reported this morning.

State Health and Environment Committee chairman, R Vidyananthan, said that four districts were still affected by the floods, involving 35 PPS, with Muar registering the highest number of evacuees at 772, followed by Segamat (746), Tangkak (555) and Batu Pahat (81).

“Meanwhile a PPS, at the Pagoh Sports Complex in Muar, has been closed, but the PPS of the Kampung Chodan open area in Segamat has been reopened due to security factors,” he said in a statement today.

He said that the weather statewide was now reported to be sunny.

Meanwhile, according to the Segamat Public Works Department (PWD) Facebook page, Jalan Pogoh-Bukit Kepong in Kampung Limau Manis, Segamat, has been reopened as the floods have receded, enabling access.

“However, Sections 14.7 to 16.4 at Felcra Pogoh, along Jalan Segamat-Bukit Kepong are still closed to all types of vehicles following floods as deep as 0.5 metres,” it said.

Source: BERNAMA News Agency

ALOR GAJAH, Jan 11 — The Melaka government, through its relevant agencies, is evaluating applications to construct new houses and repair those damaged by the recent floods.

Melaka Chief Minister Datuk Seri Sulaiman Md Ali said the construction of new houses, which also involved those damaged beyond repair, involved an allocation of RM56,000 for each affected unit.

He said for houses that need and could be repaired, a minimum allocation of RM5,000 and a maximum of RM15,000 had been allocated for each unit approved.

“The allocation is channelled by the Implementation Coordination Unit (ICU) of the Prime Minister’s Department (JPM) and the applications will be evaluated by agencies such as district offices and state Public Works Department (JKR).

“So far, in Alor Gajah, three houses that were completely damaged or suffered ‘total loss’ will be rebuilt while four other affected houses have been repaired,” he told reporters after presenting donations to purchase necessities for flood victims in Alor Gajah here today.

At the ceremony, which was also attended by Melaka State Secretary Datuk Zaidi Johari, 140 flood victims in the Alor Gajah district received RM2,500 each.

Meanwhile, Sulaiman said the federal government had channelled the first phase of flood relief allocation amounting to RM1.08 million for flood victims in Melaka involving 434 heads of households.

He said the allocation involved 249 heads of households in the districts of Alor Gajah, Melaka Tengah (171) and Jasin (14) and the payment would be done in stages.

“I hope flood victims who have yet to receive payment will remain patient because I understand that all the district offices involved have received the application forms and it will take some time before payment is made,” he said.

Source: BERNAMA News Agency

KUANTAN, Jan 11 — Pahang Menteri Besar press secretary Datuk Abdul Wahab Mohamad Ali died today, believed to be of blood cancer, at the Tengku Ampuan Afzan Hospital here.

He was 61.

The death of Abdul Wahab at 5.42 pm was confirmed by the Menteri Besar’s Office in a brief statement to the media via WhatsApp.

He would be laid to rest at the Bukit Ubi Muslim cemetery tonight.

Born on Feb 26, 1961, Abdul Wahab was by far the longest-serving press secretary, having served since 1995 and under three Pahang Menteris Besar, namely Tun Mohd Khalil Yaakob, Datuk Seri Adnan Yaakob and the most recent Datuk Seri Wan Rosdy Wan Ismail.

He began his career on Sept 1, 1984, as a News Officer at the Malaysian National News Agency (Bernama) headquarters in Kuala Lumpur before being transferred to the Pahang Bureau in January 1989 and returned to the headquarters in October 1994 as the News Desk Assistant Editor.

Abdul Wahab was first appointed on loan as Pahang Menteri Besar press secretary on July 1, 1995, before he opted for early retirement from Bernama on June 1, 2006.

After his retirement from Bernama, he continued to serve Khalil, who was the then Menteri Besar, before joining Adnan who took over in 1999 and later with Wan Rosdy, from 2018.

Source: BERNAMA News Agency

PUTRAJAYA, Jan 11 — Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Religious Affairs) Idris Ahmad has urged the relevant authorities to investigate a freelance preacher who admitted to bringing a group of pilgrims who were not fully vaccinated to perform umrah.

He said the incident should not have happened because among the conditions for performing umrah was the pilgrims must have completed their vaccination with any of the vaccines approved by the Saudi government.

“I regret if this had really happened because among the conditions clearly stated was that the person must be fully vaccinated.

“How did they manage to leave for Makkah? The relevant authorities must investigate how they could go undetected?” he told the media after presenting aid to flood victims here today.

Idris was asked to comment following the freelance preacher’s admission on his Instagram account that he had brought a group of pilgrims who were not fully vaccinated to perform umrah. He had also admitted that he did not receive the MM vaccine.

It is learned that the MM vaccine refers to the Meningococcal Meningitis vaccine which is a requirement set by Saudi Arabia for umrah pilgrims around the world.

Meanwhile, Idris also advised other freelance preachers not to teach topics that are not their expertise and urged them to leave this to the experts in the field.

Source: BERNAMA News Agency

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 11 — Senior Defense Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Tun Hussein wants the maximum punishment to be imposed on individuals responsible for issuing fake COVID-19 vaccination certificates as the action affects the safety and health of innocent people.

He also called for thorough investigation into the case and to bring all those involved to justice.

“This is something that is hard for me to accept and forgive because it affects the safety and health of innocent people. I want the full force of the law on them and I want to make sure they realise that there is a limit when it comes to profit which affects people’s lives,” he added.

He said this at a special press conference after chairing the COVID-19 Ministerial Quartet Meeting at Wisma Pertahanan, here, today.

Hishammuddin said severe punishment should be imposed on individuals who sold and bought fake vaccination certificates to prevent others from doing the same.

The authorities also need to be one step ahead in curbing this activity because those who want to make profit out of it will try to find a way, he added.

The police have so far detected only one case of fake COVID-19 vaccination certificate involving a medical practitioner in Marang, Terengganu.

The doctor was arrested last Saturday and remanded until tomorrow for investigation under Section 420 of the Penal Code for cheating and dishonestly inducing delivery of property.

Source: BERNAMA News Agency

KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 11 — While the world grapples with the surge in the Omicron variant of the COVID-19 virus, scientists believe another super-strain has been detected.

Named Deltacron, the new strain combines the names of the two earlier variants – Delta and Omicron.

Though it is still too early to say how Deltacron is going to take on the world, the new name drew dismay from netizens overwhelmed by pandemic fatigue.

Twitter user Srikanth Renikunta using account name @SriRenikunta tweeted “Covid morphing into a new variant every three months” showing concern over the evolving virus.

Others were more creative, as they saw the variant nomenclature sounding similar to the characters in American sci-fi ‘Transformers’.

Arif Farimin with the ‘reefjrx’ Twitter handle tweeted: omicron, deltacron…coming soon..megatron?, while Alyaa Ramlan @alyaaramlan added ‘Deltacron – rasa macam dalam never ending transformer movies’ (Deltacron – looks like never ending transformer movies) .

Iqbal@shafielqbal tweeted: ‘Omicron, deltacron sampailah decepticon datang dengan ketuanya megatron’ (Deltacron continues until decepticon uprising arrives with its leader megatron).

Ikhwan@JatIkhwan tweeted: So sekarang varian covid boleh bergabung ek? Dah ada deltacron, gabungan delta dan omicron. Antara simptom baru varian ini ialah menyebabkan rambut gugur. (So now we have COVID variant which can combine? We have deltacron, combination of delta and omicron. Among the symptoms of this new variant is making the hair fall).

Smile Guy34@smileguy34 tweeted: Nampaknya Delta + Omicron=Deltacron. Autobot pun tak dapat kalahkan mereka. Decepticon pun tewas. nampaknya kena panggil Avengers. (Looks like Delta + Omicron=Deltacron. Even Autobot cant defeat them. Even Decepticon gets defeated. Looks like have to call Avengers.)

Leondios Kostrikis, professor of biological sciences at the University of Cyprus, called the strain “deltacron,” because of its omicron-like genetic signatures within the delta genomes, according to a report by Bloomberg.

Source: BERNAMA News Agency