'Malaysia will declare free of Covid-19 after 28 days without a case'

CORONAVIRUS | Malaysia will only declare itself Covid-19-free when it goes 28 days without recording a single new coronavirus case.

According to Health Ministry director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah (above), this is equivalent to two incubation cycles of the coronavirus.

“If we end a cluster, we take a period of 28 days for observation, that is two (Covid-19) incubation cycles.

“So if we use that period of observation and monitoring for 28 days, if there are no cases, that is zero cases, then we will declare (the country) Covid-19-free,” he said during his daily press briefing in Putrajaya today.

Noor Hisham was answering a journalist's question on what would be the benchmark for MOH to consider the country as free of the virus.

Malaysia has seen the number of new positive cases kept relatively low with the last time it recorded triple-digit cases being on June 4 with 277 cases.

Yesterday, the ministry also recorded the lowest number of cases since the Covid-19 pandemic hit the country early this year, with only two new positive cases detected.

The government has also further eased movement restrictions since yesterday, introducing the recovery movement control order (MCO) which sees most economic and social activities being allowed to resume full operations.

Meanwhile, to a business resumption appeal made by an association which represents visually-challenged massage therapists, Noor Hisham said the matter was being discussed.

He said authorities are finalising standard operating procedures for the service and would present it to the National Security Council for approval.

"For now, massage businesses and such, we are still finetuning the SOPs.

"We plan to present them to the NSC for approval in the near future. But we will have to look carefully into the SOPs that will be used," he said. - Mkini