KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 22 — The government has maintained its 14-day quarantine order for oil and gas workers on oil rigs despite them being fully vaccinated, as Covid-19 infections among workers on oil platforms remain high.
Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin, in a written parliamentary reply on October 12, said surveys this year, as of September, found there were 1,225 Covid-19 cases among local oil and gas workers, of which 375 were detected during the sign-on procedure and 850 during sign-offs.
On a month-on-month basis, Covid-19 infections among domestic oil and gas workers showed an increasing trend from June to August in line with the surge of coronavirus cases on land. It dropped slightly, however, in September.
Khairy said the current Covid-19 infection trend remains high and justifies the existing 14-day quarantine requirement. He was responding to a question by Senator Khairil Nizam Khirudin who asked for justification on the 14-day mandatory quarantine order on fully vaccinated oil and gas workers.
“Additionally, the MOH has not yet received complete information from the oil and gas industry on the Covid-19 vaccination status of their workers. Looking at the increasing trend of cases, especially in the last three months of June, July and August 2021, MOH will need to study the prospects of relaxing the quarantine requirement for sign-on and sign-off procedures, especially for workers who are fully vaccinated,” Khairy said.
Oil and gas workers are currently subjected to 14 days of quarantine at their respective stations and two PCR tests on the first and 10th day. They can only be released from quarantine if they test negative for Covid-19.
