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PETALING JAYA: Chief Health Officer Dr. Noor Hisham Abdullah has hinted that the conditional motion control order (CMCO) in Selangor may be lifted if the infection rate (R0, pronounced R-nil) in the state falls. reduces to 0.3 in the next seven days.
At a press conference today, he said that Selangor’s R0 value was initially at 1.98, but had dropped to about 1.48 since the CMCO was implemented on October 14.
He said this meant that recent lockdown restrictions had been effective in reducing the rate of infectivity in the Klang Valley.
Despite the progress, Noor Hisham said that it was still “not good enough” and that the value of R0 had to be further reduced to 0.3 before Selangor could ease the restrictions.
He said the Health Ministry was working to reduce it by increasing its public health intervention and active case detection.
He also urged Malaysians to help the ministry combat the increase in cases in the Klang Valley by complying with SOPs and staying home whenever possible.
“The challenge in Selangor is the density and mobility of the population, so we need the cooperation of the public to stay at home.”
However, Noor Hisham said that even if the R0 value remained above 1.0, it was still too early to consider an extension of the current CMCO in the Klang Valley.
“We still have a week to analyze the data. Every day is important for us to see progress, where we are and where we will be in a week.
“For areas where there is a high incidence (of positive cases) like Semporna, we can make an enhanced movement control order (TEMCO),” he said.
On a separate note, Noor Hisham said that research is continually being carried out on former Covid-19 patients to learn more about the virus.
“The Institute for Medical Research (IMR) is monitoring Covid-19 patients who have recovered to discover the long-term effects of the virus.
“These tests will also help us learn more about the antibodies produced when a patient is infected,” he said.
Noor Hisham added that so far, researchers found that antibodies would drop after eight weeks from the first date of infection.
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