MCO is working, says Health DG

CORONAVIRUS | The movement control order (MCO) has helped slow down the spread of the Covid-19 virus, said Health Ministry director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah.

"This can be seen in the trend of Covid-19 cases and the trajectory which was projected through the Health Ministry's research," he told a press conference today.

In welcoming Putrajaya's decision to extend the MCO by another two weeks to April 28, he described Malaysia as being in the "peringkat pertengahan" (middle stage) and stressed that there must still be efforts to restrict movements.

"In fact, it should be intensified to break the chain of infections by increasing ongoing (enforcement) activities, together with other new approaches and focus on targeted groups," he said.

Citing World Health Organisation head Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Noor Hisham said restricting movements allowed a country a chance at dealing with the spread of the virus.

He said Tedros had warned against ending efforts to restrict movements too early as it would result in a reemergence of the outbreak.

"(If that was the case) people will continue to be infected, the elderly and high-risk groups will be affected, and the capacity of the health system will be unable to cope with a wave that is even bigger than what we are seeing now," he said.

Testing in buffer zones

Meanwhile, Noor Hisham said 1,634 tests had been conducted on residents within the enhanced MCO areas, of which 138 people tested positive for Covid-19.

He stressed that 79 cases were detected before the enhanced MCO was put in place and 59 were detected after.

So far, there have been three deaths in the enhanced MCO areas (case 1,114, case 1,251 and case 2,627).

The six enhanced MCO areas are Kampung Datuk Ibrahim Majid and Bandar Baharu Datuk Ibrahim Majid in Johor, Sungai Lui in Selangor, and Selangor Mansion, Malayan Mansion and Menara Plaza City One in Kuala Lumpur.

Noor Hisham said the Health Ministry was also conducting active case detection in Bandar Baharu Dato' Ibrahim Majid in Johor because it was identified as a "buffer zone".

Of the 1,500 tests conducted, there were 13 positive results.

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- Mkini