Muhyiddin: Situation is still manageable

 

PETALING JAYA: Amid anxiety over the country’s rapidly rising Covid-19 numbers, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin (pic) assures the public that the situation is still manageable and under control.

Pledging his government’s commitment to contain the spread of the virus, the Prime Minister stressed that the outbreaks of late were in areas and clusters that had been identified and could be isolated.

He said many of the recent infections were among detainees in prison, in targeted enhanced movement control order (MCO) areas and from clusters that were already pinned down.

“All these areas are always being monitored, and case detection activities and active contact tracing are being done to ensure positive cases are being identified and isolated.

“This has led to many more Covid-19 positive cases to be detected. I hope the people understand this.

“I wish to emphasise that the situation is still under control and well managed by government agencies that are involved,” he said in a Facebook post yesterday.

He said he was informed during a special meeting that 128 out of 287 cases reported on Friday involved staff members and detainees in Alor Setar prison.

“The remaining cases were reported in Sabah and a few states in the peninsula,” he said.

“The presentation by the Health Ministry showed that the number of Covid-19 cases in Sabah to date involved 139 people, which is about 1.18% of the total number of Covid-19 cases in the country (so far).”

Muhyiddin chaired a special National Security Council meeting on Covid-19 yesterday.

In the meeting, he said he was informed that the cases in Sabah were found to have originated from the entry of undocumented migrants from neighbouring countries.

“As such, the government has decided that all undocumented migrants who have been detained must be screened and placed in temporary detention and quarantine centres (PTS) that will be prepared beforehand.

“At the moment, the PTS in Sabah have exceeded their capacity,” he said, adding that more PTS would be set up for detained migrants before they are deported.

He also said that more healthcare workers would be stationed to screen detained migrants.

Likewise, he said more security forces would be sent to control the country’s border to curb the entry of undocumented migrants, especially in Sabah.

(In a press conference yesterday, Senior Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob said more security personnel and assets would be deployed to strengthen border control in Sabah’s east coast, as part of Ops Benteng. Those detained, whether or not they have documents, will have to undergo a 14-day quarantine in the centres that have been set up.)

Muhyiddin stressed that Malaysia’s level of preparedness was high, adding that there were 40 hospitals and 34 centres for low-risk Covid-19 quarantine and treatment, with a capacity of 5,674 beds.

“The utilisation rate of beds in Covid-19 hospitals at the moment is at 24%,” he said.

As for healthcare facilities, he said 437 intensive care unit beds and 1,505 ventilators were available.

“I wish to urge the rakyat to remain calm in facing the situation.

“I trust that our team of frontliners, especially the Health Ministry and the security forces, has the capacity and expertise to handle the situation well,” he said. - Star