He said having more frontliners means faster testing and training, and the sooner the authorities did that, the better it would be to contain the spread of the pandemic.
“Selangor will suffer the most if we take it slow,” the former health minister said in a statement.
“Any further delay means we’ll only be tracking the virus reactively and watch transmissions skyrocket.”
On Jan 7, former deputy health minister Dr Lee Boon Chye had also urged the government to strengthen contact tracing by hiring 10,000 youths on a short-term basis.
“There are so many jobless graduates, contract healthcare staff and medical, nursing and pharmacy graduates who can be hired,” Lee said.
Yesterday, the health ministry reported 5,725 new cases with 16 deaths within 24 hours. Selangor recorded the highest positive tests with 3,126 cases, followed by Kuala Lumpur (687), and Johor (684).
Dzulkefly cited several factors that had led to this escalation, namely those involving a backlog of tests dating back 10 days in prisons, clinics and private hospitals.
“Collaboration between relevant parties needs to be further fortified by taking more accurate measures to curb the virus.”
He also said that Selangor had launched its Preventing Outbreak at Ignition Site (POIS) programme in a joint venture involving the state government, employers and NGOs to screen workplaces in stages.
He said POIS will collaborate with the state Health Department, its health subsidiary Selgate Corporation Sdn Bhd, all local authorities, and the Federation of Malaysia Manufacturers.
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