Can Malaysians be trusted? Follow 'Malaysia Boleh' spirit, says Health DG

The "Malaysia Boleh" spirit can bring together all Malaysians in breaking the chain of Covid-19 infections in the country, says Health director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah.

Expressing his confidence in his fellow countrymen, the top Health Ministry officer said he believed that Malaysians have what it takes to practice social discipline in battling the outbreak.

"But we have to make history, if we want to be successful and to break the chain of Covid-19 in this country, we have to come together as one.

"And if all of us put in effort, I'm sure we can do it. Malaysia Boleh!" he said at a press conference on Covid-19 in Putrajaya this evening.

Noor Hisham was responding to a media question on whether he has confidence that Malaysians can have a high level of social responsibility to practice all of the ministry's advice to prevent Covid-19 infections.

This came as several other countries including South Korea and China had started to record new clusters of Covid-19 after easing their movement control measures.

Since May 4, Malaysia had also introduced a more relaxed measure in place of its movement control order (MCO), which saw most of the economic sectors allowed to resume normal operations.

Some social activities have also been allowed since, in contrast to the initial MCO that was introduced on March 18.

Speaking about new infection clusters detected in other countries, Noor Hisham said MOH shared the same concern about the possibility of another wave of the outbreak locally.

"We are equally worried," he said, adding that this was why the ministry was implementing the six criteria of the  World Health Organisation's advice for a Covid-19 exit strategy.

However, Noor Hisham stressed that the onus to ensure that the Covid-19 pandemic was kept at bay was not with the government.

He said it was the public who must now follow all the guidelines provided so that the chain of the virus's infection could be broken and the number of new cases brought down.

"So now the onus is not on the MOH or the government but on each individual, all have to comply. Social discipline and responsibility are important to comply with all the SOPs we have.

Noor Hisham said it should be appreciated that the various public health initiatives taken during the MCO had managed to bring down the number of cases today.

He said active case detection activities that the MOH did had shown success with wards in the country "almost empty" while the number of Covid-19 patients in intensive care had dropped.

Next, according to him, the MOH was looking at screening all old folks' homes and target people with comorbidity for testing.

This as part of the ministry's effort to protect vulnerable populations from the virus. - Mkini