PUTRAJAYA: With imported Covid-19 cases on the rise abroad as well as in Malaysia, the country is looking to keep its borders tighter rather than loosening it.

Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said the ministry is monitoring with concern, the situation in countries like South Korea, which has seen a sharp increase in cases.

“We are seeing an increase in imported cases here. We are also concerned about countries such as South Korea, which once upon a time managed to keep their cases under control.

“They have just reported 2,600 cases within 10 days. We are also seeing the same thing in Hong Kong, Japan, Australia and New Zealand.

“We need to be vigilant. Certainly, the recommendation should not be to ease the borders, but to tighten them, ” said Dr Noor Hisham at the ministry’s Covid-19 press conference here.

Out of 50 confirmed cases recorded in Malaysia since Aug 20,24 of them are imported cases.

Earlier, Dr Noor Hisham announced that Malaysia has 11 new cases, of which two are imports.

On another matter, Dr Noor Hisham said the ministry will look into claims that some medical staff at government hospitals have not been paid special allowances for months.

“I was made aware of it and have informed the Finance Department to look into it.

“We will look into the details and facilitate this as soon as possible. This is not right for our officers on the ground, especially our frontliners, ” he said.

Reports said several staff of the Sungai Buloh Hospital had allegedly not received the special allowance under the Prihatin Rakyat Economic Stimulus Package scheme which was pledged by the government.

The special allowance, worth between RM400 to RM600, was meant to aid medical frontliners who had been on duty treating patients of the Covid-19 outbreak.