The Malaysian Insight

DESPITE the present increase in daily Covid-19 infections, the Ministry of Health has said it will not prevent the Johor elections from taking place, because the Omicron wave does not pose the same risk as previous waves.

At a news conference today, Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin said the ministry has finalised its suggestions on standard operating procedures (SOP) for the elections, which have been handed to the National Security Council (NSC) and the Election Commission (EC).

“The ministry believes that Omicron presents a less severe impact than the Delta variant and that the state elections can proceed as planned with the SOP to be issued soon.”

The Election Commission (EC) is scheduled to meet on Wednesday to decide nomination and polling days.

While the country is currently witnessing a surge in coronavirus infections, the majority of cases are in less severe categories of 1 and 2.

The country logged 11,034 fresh infections as of noon today, the highest for four months.

Meanwhile, Khairy said primary Sinovac recipients can now opt for Sinovac booster after reports of hesitancy from primary Sinovac recipients to mix their booster with either Pfizer or AstraZeneca.

“Although it has been proven that Pfizer is still the best booster, I will not force them. If you still want to take Sinovac, then go ahead,” he said.

“Any booster is still better than no booster,” he said.

Some 12.4 million adults have received the Covid-19 booster as of yesterday. – February 7, 2022.