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The Health | june-july, 2020
| Local News |
MATTA urges health
accreditation to revive
tourism industry
The Malaysian Association of Tour and Travel
Agents (MATTA) President, Tan Kok Liang, is calling
for government initiatives to resuscitate the tourism
industry.
He suggested developing and implementing health
accreditation that could guarantee health and safety
standards to boost confidence in tourism facilities for
both locals and international tourists.
“No amount of digitalisation, promotions, incentives
or freebies can directly help to create demand except
to boost the much-needed confidence that it is safe to
travel through coordinated efforts with the relevant
authorities,” said Tan.
“The global private sector has aligned around the
health and safety protocols to create consistency across
the industry.”
The Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture and the
Iconic Worldwide starts making face masks
Iconic Worldwide Bhd
(formerly known as Sanbumi
Holdings Bhd), a Penang-based
tourism and property development
outfit, is venturing into face
mask manufacturing, initially
targeting factory and construction
companies in Malaysia.
Iconic Worldwide said its new
business venture would be under
its fully-owned subsidiary Iconic
Medicare Sdn Bhd.
Iconic Worldwide managing
director Datuk Tan Keat Tet
said: “We saw a need to locally
produce face masks as a large
part of Malaysia’s supply is still
from China. With the Recovery
Movement Control Order, we
foresee people will be more willing
to leave their homes. Consumption
of face masks will increase, and
we are confident of matching the
demand with a reliable supply.”
Furthermore, he said producing
the masks locally would assure
customers about the origin of
the product and the high-quality
materials that go into making the
face masks.
He added the company had
been actively donating face masks
especially to front liners during
the Movement Control Order, but
realised that there were problems
with sourcing face masks from
China such as time delays and
quality assurance.
Therefore, the company decided
to take it upon themselves to supply
the local market with a reliable
product.
“We are in the process of
getting ISO and CE endorsements,
with which we will look towards
exporting medical-grade masks
emblazoned with a ‘Made in
Malaysia’ symbol.”
Iconic Worldwide added
that this was its first baby
Ministry of Health may consider initiating a health
accreditation mark programme for the tourism
value chain which includes aviation, hotels, tourism
attractions, retail outlets, transportation operations,
cruises and food and beverage outlets, amongst others.
Tan said the badge would act as a safeguard towards
staff and visitors and earning it will require rigorous
online training and assessment session focused on
hygiene and physical distancing which suppliers will
need to complete before self-certifying.
"Implementation and coordination by the
government are vital to ensure that measures are in place
to help rebuild confidence which are jointly embraced
by the government and private sector. Many tourism
businesses are beginning to embrace the emergence
of new norms positively, in preparation for when the
situation starts to normalise,” Tan said. — The Health
step into diversifying into the
manufacturing segment as the
company saw a need to adapt to the
new normal of venturing into new
and relevant businesses.
“The face mask business will
start to contribute to the company’s
financial year ending Mar 31,
2021, and also help cushion the
slight impact on its property and
hospitality business, which has
been affected by Covid-19.
“For [financial year 2021],
property development will
continue to be the main driver of
the company, supported by its hotel
segment and followed closely by its
new manufacturing segment,” it
said. — The Health
Asean must be fair when
Covid-19 vaccine is
available
The Covid-19 vaccine, when available,
must be affordable, accessible and
equitably shared for all, said Prime
Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin.
He said as Asean endeavours to protect
its populations against the serious threat
of Covid-19, a vaccine is sorely needed.
“While progress on the development
of a vaccine and anti-viral medicine has
been encouraging, we must ensure that
when the time comes the vaccine must
be affordable, accessible and equitably
shared for all,” Muhyiddin said at the 36th
Asean Summit, held virtually and hosted
by Vietnam. The Prime Minister joined the
virtual summit from Putrajaya.
He said Malaysia appreciates this
initiative taken by Vietnam, as Asean
Chair, in convening the summit via videoconference
against the backdrop of the
Covid-19 pandemic.
“This truly is a historic moment for us
in Asean. Our deliberations today bear
testament to Asean’s resolve in building
a cohesive and responsive community
in line with the theme of Vietnam’s
chairmanship,” he said.
Malaysia is confident that under the
able leadership of Vietnam, Asean will be
able to achieve significant outcomes this
year, notwithstanding the unprecedented
circumstances surrounding Covid-19,”
Muhyiddin said.
Since its inception over a half-century
ago, Asean has enabled the region to grow,
prosper and engage with the world.
“Rest assured, Malaysia’s unwavering
commitment to advancing our shared
interests through a people-oriented and
people-centred Asean community will
be our utmost priority in forging a joint
destiny we can all be proud of,” Muhyiddin
added.
MoH boosts daily Covid-19
testing capacity
Malaysia increased its daily capacity
to conduct reverse transcription
polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR)
tests to 36,812 after 100 days since the
implementation of the Movement Control
Order (MCO), according to the Ministry of
Health (MoH).
Health Director-General Datuk Dr
Noor Hisham Abdullah said it represents
an increase of six times the daily testing
capacity of 6,210 on March 18, when the
MCO was first enforced.
The RT-PCR test is regarded as the
‘gold standard’ in diagnosing Covid-19 due
to its rapid detection, high sensitivity and
specificity.
Hisham said that during the first phase
of the MCO, there were only 4,433 beds,
273 intensive care unit (ICU) beds and
626 ventilators. At the end of the fourth
phase of the MCO on May 12, the total daily
testing capacity had increased to 27,233
tests, while the number of beds, ICU beds
and ventilators had risen to 8,794, 438 and
1,097 respectively.
Currently, there are 6,937 beds for
Covid-19 patients, and while there are
442 beds in the ICU that are set aside for
patients of the disease, they are now being
used by other patients. Malaysia is now in a
recovery phase.
“To ensure that the country recovers
fully and successfully implements the
Recovery Movement Control Order
(RMCO), the community must play a
bigger role by following all the advice
given and obeying the standard operating
procedures set,” he said. — The Health