Let Parents Apply Leave If Kids Need Quarantine Malacca Govt

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The Malacca state government has requested the Public Service Department (JPA) to list Covid-19 as a communicable disease so parents can apply for unrecorded leave if their children need to be quarantined.
State Health and Anti-Drug Committee chairperson Dr Muhammad Akmal Saleh said this would be similar to leave allowed under Service Circular Number 11 of 2016.
In that circular, leave is allowed for taking care of children infected with six listed infectious diseases, such as hand, foot, and mouth disease and diphtheria.
“It takes into account the constraints and difficulties faced by civil servants following the decision to require employees recorded as asymptomatic close contacts to be present for work beginning March 1,” Akmal said.
He said if no childcare service can accept the children of those civil servants, then “this forces the parents to take annual leave, and it would create more difficulties by the end of the year, as the leave quota has been exhausted," he said.
He was speaking to reporters after the State Legislative Assembly sitting at the Seri Negeri Complex in Ayer Keroh, Malacca, today.
Earlier, Akmal (BN-Ayer Merlimau) said 35 individuals in the state were reportedly admitted to the hospital to receive follow-up treatment due to Adverse Events Following Immunisation (AEFI).
They have fully recovered, he said.
He said the number was from a total of 700,000 people in Malacca who had received the vaccine.
Meanwhile, he said, as of now, 37.3 percent of children aged five to 11 in Malacca had been vaccinated, and the state had the second-highest immunisation rate for the age group after Sarawak.
"The response received from parents is very encouraging after almost a month of this programme being introduced among children, and we hope the people in Malacca get their children vaccinated because it is proven to be safe," he added.
- Bernama

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