PETALING JAYA: The government has been urged to include influenza in the list of notifiable diseases in light of the H1N1 outbreak in the country.
MCA deputy president Datuk Dr Mah Hang Soon said the public needed regular updates on the influenza situation to help them take the necessary precautions, considering the gravity of the situation.
“Most countries, including Australia, Hong Kong, India, the United Kingdom and also the United States already considers most types of influenzas as notifiable diseases,” he said in a statement today.
“Otherwise, they can come up with some other mechanism to enhance public awareness and to alert the rakyat on the situation. This is very important,” he said.
Currently, influenza is not a notifiable disease under the Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases Act 1988. This means there are no official and latest statistics on the disease despite the spread of Influenza A among the populace over the past weeks.
Mah said by getting regular, informed updates of Influenza A, Malaysians would also be able to determine no-go zones to minimise the risk of a mass infection.
He added that with the latest outbreak of the novel coronavirus from Wuhan, China, that has started spreading across Asia, it was timely for the government began a nationwide effort to prepare the public for the spread of such infectious diseases.
“There should be an urgent effort to educate the public on the dos and don’ts in the event of an outbreak. Already, there are many cries for visitors from China to be barred from entering Malaysia.
“To refer to Chinese tourists as carriers of disease in the China-Malaysia Cultural and Tourism Year 2020 does not bode well at all. If the public is not well informed enough, we may see distressing instances of Chinese tourists being abused, heckled or even boycotted,” he said.
Over 400 people have been infected with the coronavirus so far, with at least 17 confirmed deaths reported.
