How about all stay at Home for awhile again?
— Noor Hisham Abdullah (@DGHisham) September 30, 2020
PUTRAJAYA: Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah says his tweet earlier this morning only served as a reminder to Malaysians to remain home whenever possible, and not a hint that the Movement Control Order (MCO) may be implemented again.
Through his official Twitter account – @DGHisham – he had earlier responded to fellow user @zalifahms – who suggested banning cross-state movements for a while – with: “How about all stay at Home for a while again?”.
The reply sparked an intense debate among Malaysians and caused concern that the government could reintroduce the MCO.
“That (tweet) is not a new thing. I was once again reminding Malaysians who do not have important business outside to remain home, and if you do need to go out for an important matter, abide by the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP).
“That was the main purpose of my tweet,” he said in a press conference on COVID-19 here today.
Meanwhile, Dr Noor Hisham said the Ministry of Health (MOH) was aware that some health workers and Malaysians were tired of complying with the SOP set by the government.
“But we should remember that the COVID-19 virus has never fatigued, and if we let our guards down take it easy, infections will occur because the virus already exists in the community,” he said.
Commenting further, he said the ministry expected a new wave of COVID-19 infections if the number of positive cases continued to increase.
“However, the onus is on us whether we can flatten the curve again. We have done it before, and we can do it again, (to flatten the curve), but we need collaboration from everyone of us, so that we can comply to SOP.
“If we come together, we can make the impossible, possible,” he said.
On another note, Dr Noor Hisham said all parties including school administrations should manage the risk of infections in their respective premises.
Asked about the concerns of parents in Selangor on their children attending school amid the high rate of infection at the moment, he said the matter was discussed between the MOH and the Ministry of Education (MOE).
“Indeed, the risk remains. If we do not want to take any risk, we can all sit at home. But if we leave the house, we have to manage that risk.
“So as of now, in schools, if there are no infections, we will leave them (to operate),” he said adding that so far, there were no reports of clusters in schools. — Bernama