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PUTRAJAYA (Bernama): There is no need to reopen the low-risk quarantine and treatment center for Covid-19 patients at Malaysia’s Serdang Agricultural Exposition Park (MAEPS), says Health Director-General Tan Sri Dr. Noor Hisham Abdullah.
He said this is because the Ministry of Health has sufficient facilities to handle the growing number of Covid-19 cases.
“We are currently using the Ministry facilities and will open a temporary hospital in MAEPS if necessary,” added Dr. Noor Hisham.
Dr Noor Hisham said the Ministry has identified several hospitals to accommodate the growing number of Covid-19 cases, including adding the number of beds.
“So far we are using two blocks of the existing Ministry of Health Training Institute and we will add two more blocks and increase the number of existing beds to 1,800,” he said.
“We can also increase the capacity of the blocks involved. If we use a room for two people, then we can get 4,200 beds,” said Dr. Noor Hisham at a press conference on Monday (November 16).
He said the Ministry was also using the Cheras Rehabilitation Hospital, the Armed Forces Hospitals, the National Leprosy Control Center at Sungai Buloh Hospital, and the former maternity block at Kuala Lumpur hospital as quarantine centers and treatment for patients with Covid-19.
On the infectivity rate of Covid-19, he said that R-nught is currently estimated at around 1.0.
“If we see a projection of less than 1.1 we hope to reduce the rate to 0.5 in the next two weeks, but we will not achieve this if there is no cooperation from the public to comply with standard operating procedures,” he said.
Dr. Noor Hisham said the Ministry will consider the proposal to screen people from red zone districts who travel to green zones in an effort to protect states or districts with green zone status.
Apart from that, he said the ministry would also consider Johor and Terengganu’s proposal to be placed under the recovery movement control order (MCO) if the situation in both states allows it.
“After November 20, we will assess the situation in Dungun and Johor. If it is good, we will consider returning them to the recovery MCO,” he said.
However, he said the Ministry will continue to seek measures that can protect the green zone states.
“If the situation improves in four days, there will be six states under the recovery MCO. Our move is to protect these six states with identified public health activities,” he said.
Currently, Pahang, Kelantan, Perlis and Sarawak are classified as green states and placed under the recovery OLS, while the rest are subject to a conditional OLS. – Bernama
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