PUTRAJAYA: Candidates in the 15th General Election (GE15) who contract Covid-19 during the campaign period must isolate, but they will be able to cast their votes on polling day even if they test positive for the disease, says Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin.
“Candidates who are positive for Covid-19 are allowed to vote. Any voters who are similarly positive are also allowed to vote.
“The Election Commission (EC) will announce the rules for those who are positive.
“This is for voting, because that is their constitutional right,” Khairy told a press conference here yesterday.
However, he said if a candidate was positive for Covid-19, they would have to isolate for a few days and campaign online instead.
“That is the responsible thing to do,” he reiterated.
He said it would take a person with Covid-19 about three to four days to recover.
“Nowadays, that is more or less the recovery time,” he added.
Khairy also reminded political parties and candidates to set a good example by wearing a face mask when they go to confined spaces, especially at places where there would be senior citizens or when they go door-to-door canvassing for votes.
“When we have ceramah in halls that are crowded, political parties are encouraged to make announcements requiring attendees to wear face masks,” he said, adding that this was among the precautionary measures that had to be taken.
He said the Health Ministry had already given its recommendations on the polling day standard operating procedure (SOP) to the EC.
Khairy said in view of the rising cases, the ministry highly recommended the use of face masks especially in crowded and confined spaces, for those aged above 50 and those with pre-existing health conditions.
“The use of face masks is highly encouraged especially during elections where there are election programmes and political ceramah which involve a lot of people, in enclosed and confined spaces,” he said.
He added that wearing mask was highly recommended too for anyone going to polling centres, including election workers who are on duty and those who have Covid-19.
He said according to his ministry’s case load projection, daily Covid-19 cases could range between 3,000 and 5,000 after GE15.
“We can have the best prediction models but if we behave in a careful manner, then I believe we can bring the number down quicker.
“But if we are not cautious, then the cases will rise to what we have predicted,” he said.
Malaysians are set to vote on Nov 19.
Malaysia recorded 3,129 new Covid-19 cases on Oct 30, which brings the total number of cases in the country to 4,900,051 infections since the pandemic began.
The Health Ministry’s KKMNow portal reported that 3,123 of the new Covid-19 cases on Oct 30 were local transmissions while six imported infections were logged.
