KUALA LUMPUR (March 18): The Ministry of Health (MoH) detected 21 new infections today among Malaysians who returned home from abroad, with 20 of them found among those who came back from Saudi Arabia.

These 21 cases were among the 47 new Covid-19 infections the country reported as at noon today. This brought total infections found among Malaysian returnees, or imported cases, to 390.

So far, a total of 37,477 returnees had been placed under quarantine for two weeks since their return, with 29,279 having completed the quarantine, said health director-general (DG) Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah during his daily media briefing today.

The DG also highlighted the need for tighter border controls since half of the new cases reported today were imported cases.

"Today [highlights that it] is very important for us to tighten our border controls ... as there are now 187 countries where Covid-19 has been detected,” Noor Hisham said.

Besides border controls, mandatory screening and quarantine must be conducted on those who return home from abroad.

“We will continue to do so as most of those who are coming back involve students and workers. The most important thing we need to do is identify them and make sure we quarantine them,” Noor Hisham added.

The government has made it mandatory for Malaysians who return home from overseas to be quarantined for 14 days as a measure to contain imported cases.

See also:
Covid-19: Malaysia reports 47 new cases, no death today
Covid-19: Almost 20% of cases involve senior citizens and children, says MoH

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