By Nur Ashikin Louis
KUCHING, March 5: Bintulu MP Dato Seri Tiong King Sing has suggested the Ministry of Health (MOH) to base the Covid-19 quarantine period with the Cycle Threshold (CT) value.
He said the current standard operating procedure (SOP) is ineffective where fully vaccinated individuals who tested positive are only subjected to seven-day quarantine.
Meanwhile, their close contacts with no symptoms need not undergo quarantine at all.
“I tested positive for Covid-19 recently. However, I only developed symptoms such as fatigue and high fever on Day 5 with a CT value at 14.
“On the seventh day (last day of quarantine), my CT value was only at 25. This means I can still pass on the infection to others,” he said when addressing the Dewan Rakyat last Thursday (March 3).
A CT value refers to the number of cycles needed for the PCR machine to determine a positive result.
If a person has a CT value less than 30, this means he or she is infected and at high risk of transmitting the virus to other people.
Those with a CT value of more than 30 means they are infected but at lower risk of transmitting the virus while a CT value above 40 means the individual is not infected.
Tiong, who is also the Dudong assemblyman further stressed that the seven-day quarantine SOP will not be able to curb the spread of Covid-19 infection and demanded legit information to prove that the SOP can lower the infection rate.
“We should have a proper and clear quarantine or isolation procedure in place for us to control the Covid-19 infection spread,” he added. — DayakDaily
