Chinese tourists: Risks towards the country's health system

SHAH ALAM - The government is advised not to compromise with matters regarding health and safety of the people even though the presence of tourists from outside the country could benefit the country’s economic growth.

Occupational health, emergency and public health expert Dr Hanafiah Bashirun said allowing Chinese tourists into Malaysia in the near future may present risk to the health system.

He said the government should wait until the spread of Covid-19 was contained first.

"Many are still worried about the rise of Covid-19 infections in China so why can't we wait for another one or two months until cases are under control?

"Our economy survived without Chinese tourists coming to Malaysia. Why must we allow them to travel here and put a risk towards the country?

"I don't want us to repeat the same mistakes we did in early 2020. The reason Covid-19 was “violent” at the time was due to Chinese tourists being allowed to come to Malaysia," he told Sinar Harian on Tuesday.

Hanafiah also expressed her concerns about the accuracy of the Covid-19 self-test results commonly used by tourists.

"The Covid-19 self-test kit does not provide 100 per cent certainty.

"Maybe some individuals were infected with Covid-19 but when the result came back as a false negative, the person could still enter the country.

"So how will the Health Ministry instil confidence that the Covid-19 self-test kits are accurate?,” he said.

Hanafiah said he hoped that Malaysians could unite and put pressure on the government to not allow entry of Chinese tourists in the near future.

"It (pressure) could be done through media reports to gain the views of experts to discuss the matter continuously.

"We encourage the people to voice out their hardships due to the spread of Covid-19 over the past two years. Continue to put pressure on the government so they would know how Malaysians were rational in making decisions," he said.