MOH wanted to implement full MCO in Selangor but economic impact too high

 

The Health Ministry wanted to put Selangor back under a full movement control order (MCO) last month.

However, health director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said the government could not afford the economic ramifications and thus opted for the less restrictive conditional MCO (CMCO)

"In Selangor, it was very challenging. Even though we took early action and implemented the conditional MCO on Oct 14.

"If possible, we wanted to implement the (full) MCO then but the cost was too high because 40 percent of the country's economy is in Selangor, so we implemented the conditional MCO," he said.

Noor Hisham was speaking during a special media briefing on the country's efforts to combat Covid-19 in Putrajaya today.

Selangor recorded 402 cases of Covid-19 today, more than Sabah which registered 346 new cases.

Noor Hisham said for Sabah, the government could take action by screening everyone who returned from the state and imposing a home quarantine on those who tested negative.

"But in Selangor, are we able to screen everyone who goes in and out of the state and quarantine them (for) 14 days if they are negative?

"We are not able to implement that," he said.

Thus, he said, the people must play a bigger role in maintaining social distancing.

[More to follow] - Mkini