Director General of Health Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah has called for border control to be strengthened even after the Movement Control Order (MCO) is lifted. – Bernama file photo
KUCHING: Director General of Health Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah has called for border control to be strengthened even after the Movement Control Order (MCO) is lifted.
According to him, more than 180 countries across the globe have recorded Covid-19 positive cases.
“I think what is most important is to strengthen border control. Lifting the MCO does not mean lifting the border control. More than 180 countries are involved in (Covid-19) positive cases, so border control must be strengthened.
“We did discuss during a meeting with the Prime Minister (Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin) this morning (whether to extend the MCO) but we are still monitoring the situation closely,” he told the daily update press conference in Putrajaya today.
Dr Noor Hisham said the meeting did not deliberate much on whether there would be a fourth phase of the MCO.
“We have not highlighted whether we will continue the MCO or not,” he said. The current phase of MCO is expected to end on April 28.
He said the Ministry of Health (MoH) would advise the Prime Minister whether or not to extend the MCO based on the Covid-19 positive cases in the country.
He said the ministry needed to look into the daily cases and reproduction number (RO) before offering any advice.
“It has been double digits (for positive cases) in the last couple of days, which is good. I’d like to draw the attention on the 71 new cases today, that 19 of them are imported cases, which means 59 are local transmission.
“Out of the 52, 22 involved foreign workers from India, Bangladesh and Pakistan. We need to look into local transmission,” he pointed out.
Dr Noor Hisham said these were some of the indicators the MoH looked to before they could advise whether to extend the MCO.
“We need to compile all the six indicators (mentioned before this) before we advise whether to continue the MCO, or take baby steps of our exit strategy or I call it soft landing for our exit strategy.”
He said: “This is something we will discuss in the next couple of days.”
When asked if the exit strategy had been discussed, he responded: “We discussed the principle, now we need facts and signs before we decide whether we need to extend (MCO) or not.”