Coronavirus: Malaysia to move migrant workers to hotels; Japanese doctors warn of long-lasting aftereffects
- The Malaysian government said the programme would help curb the Covid-19 outbreak and indirectly assist hotel operators hurt by the pandemic
- Elsewhere in Asia, Australia is moving ahead with a plan for digital vaccine certificates, and Indonesia approved a Sinovac vaccine for the elderly
Malaysia’s Tourism, Arts and Culture Ministry said in a statement that the programme will help curb the virus outbreak and indirectly assist hotel operators hurt by the pandemic.
“The initiative is the best alternative at the moment,” the ministry said. The plan is a collaboration between the ministry and the Department of Manpower of the Ministry of Human Resources, it said.
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Overcrowded conditions in employee dormitories have been a key source of infections, spurring record cases and pressuring Malaysia’s health system. The nation has more than 1.5 million documented migrant workers, 91 per cent of whom live in accommodation that does not meet minimum housing standards, according to the Ministry of Human Resources.
The government’s plan also provides a lifeline for the tourism industry. More than 100 hotels have closed since the outbreak began almost a year ago, according to a statement by the Malaysian Association of Hotels.
A recent video of a hotel manager selling the hotel’s food by the roadside in a popular hawker area is an example of many who have resorted to scaling down to cover expenses and employees’ payroll, the association said.
JAPANESE DOCTORS POINT TO LINGERING AFTEREFFECTS
Japanese Doctors have warned that many coronavirus patients, especially younger ones, are suffering aftereffects for a long time despite subsequently testing negative for the virus and are calling on the government to take countermeasures.
The aftereffects include malaise and difficulty breathing. In severe cases, patients became bedridden even though they had been diagnosed with a mild case of the Covid-19 disease caused by the virus.
So far in Japan, there are not many medical institutions that treat patients suffering from such long-lasting effects.
“Most of them are in their 40s or younger. The government needs to take the issue seriously and implement countermeasures,” one of the doctors said.
In Japan, the National Center for Global Health and Medicine conducted a telephone survey last year on coronavirus patients who had been discharged from hospitals. They collected answers from 63 individuals.
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The survey found that in some cases, people continued to experience difficulty breathing, malaise, and olfactory disorders four months after they started showing Covid-19 symptoms.
There were also cases where patients experienced hair loss several months after the disease developed, the centre said.
No treatment has been established for long-lasting Covid-19 effects, said Hiroshi Odaguchi, director general of the Kitasato University Oriental Medicine Research Center. “I believe doctors are struggling to respond.”
Hirahata Clinic, which has examined about 700 such patients across the country, said 95 per cent complained of malaise, while over 80 per cent experienced a low mood and reduced thinking ability.
About 30 per cent of the patients were in their 40s while nearly 50 per cent were in their teens to 30s, the clinic said. The number of women among all patients was 1.4 times that of men.
VACCINE CERTIFICATES FOR AUSTRALIA
The Australian government has revealed its plans for digital coronavirus vaccine certificates.
Under the plan, Australians who are inoculated against Covid-19 will be able to show their proof of vaccination certificates on smartphones.
The certificates will play a key role in the roll-out of vaccines with the government considering making vaccines mandatory in high-risk settings including hospitals and aged care facilities.
Planning is also under way for certificates that will be recognised by other countries in preparation for the resumption of international travel.
Stuart Robert, the minister for government services, said that the government had built a “state-of-the-art cybersecurity” system to prepare for the certificate system.
“In preparation for the Covid-19 vaccine roll-out, Services Australia has made critical enhancements to the Australian Immunization Register, including increasing system capacity so more customers can access their information on the register at the same time, new AIR functionality to capture more detailed information about vaccines given, and updating immunisation history statements to show all Covid-19 vaccine doses,” he said, according to Nine Entertainment newspapers on Sunday.
INDONESIA APPROVES SINOVAC VACCINE FOR ELDERLY
Indonesia approved China’s Sinovac Biotech Ltd. ’s Covid-19 vaccine for use on the elderly and may start inoculations between March and April, Health Ministry spokeswoman Siti Nadia Tarmizi said.
State-owned PT Bio Farma, which partners with Sinovac to produce the shots locally, received the approval in a letter from the food and drug agency, company spokesman Bambang Heriyanto said in a text message.
Indonesia started its mass inoculation drive on January 13 with a Sinovac vaccine. More than 777,000 people have received their first shot and about 137,000 have had a second, according to official data. The government plans to vaccinate 181.5 million people by March 2022.
Covid-19 infections and deaths continued to rise by record numbers in the Southeast Asian country in January. Authorities confirmed 191 deaths from the virus in the 24 hours through midday Saturday, bringing the total to 31,393. More than 1.5 million Indonesians have tested positive for Covid-19 and 939,184 have recovered from the disease.
Additional reporting by Bloomberg, Kyodo and Reuters