Coronavirus: Malaysia reports record rise in cases; Thailand defends Sinovac-AstraZeneca vaccine ‘mix-and-match’ after WHO warning
- A Malaysian vaccination centre was shut down on Tuesday after more than 200 workers tested positive, as the country reported more than 11,000 new cases
- Elsewhere, Australia’s top diplomat to Singapore said Canberra has a ‘firm commitment’ to launch a quarantine-free travel bubble with the city state
Science Minister Khairy Jamaluddin stressed that swift government action had contained the cluster at the Ideal Convention Centre in central Selangor state.
Khairy, who is in charge of the national immunisation programme, said he ordered the testing of all 453 workers at the centre after two volunteers were confirmed to have the virus. Khairy said the 204 whose results were positive had low viral loads, meaning the amount of virus in their bodies was small. This could be because 88 per cent or 400 of the workers have already been vaccinated, he said.
The centre was shut for sanitising and all its workers are being isolated. Khairy said it will reopen on Wednesday with a new team of medical workers.
He urged people who were vaccinated at the centre since Friday to isolate themselves for 10 days and be tested if they develop symptoms. He declined to say how many people had visited the centre since Friday. It has the capacity to deliver up to 6,000 shots a day.
“This is the first time we had to shut down a [vaccination centre] because of positive cases but we acted fast. By shutting it down today and by taking corrective measures … we hope the disruption is only one day and that this will not hamper the vaccination process,” Khairy said. He said it would be safe to visit the centre starting Wednesday for vaccinations.