PUTRAJAYA: The standard operating procedures (SOP) for the 12th Sarawak state election is in the final stage of being refined before it is submitted to the Election Commission (EC), said Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin.
He said several strict measures were recommended through the SOP, taking into account the current situation with the emergence of the new Covid-19 Omicron variant in the country.
"The SOP for the Sarawak state election is almost ready. MOH is refining one or two more things before we hand it over to the EC.
"Certainly, this latest development (on Omicron) is taken into account. We want to make sure that there is no infection during the state election," he said in a press conference on the latest developments of Covid-19 here today.
Malaysia recorded its first case of the Omicron variant involving a South African student of a private university in Ipoh, who tested positive for the variant of concern (VOC) on Dec 2 as a result of genomic sequencing.
The EC has set Dec 18 as polling day for the Sarawak state election, with Dec 6 as nomination day. Early voting is Dec 14.--BERNAMA