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PUTRAJAYA: Malaysians must unite and strictly observe social discipline to avoid a second wave of the Covid-19 outbreak, says Dr. Datuk Noor Hisham Abdullah.
The Director-General for Health said that while Malaysia had managed to reduce the number of Covid-19 cases so far, the emergence of new groups in countries that have recovered from the pandemic was cause for concern.
“Many countries are concerned about the possible appearance of a second wave of Covid-19. We are equally concerned.
“The responsibility now is not in the government but in each individual. Social compliance and discipline are important. If we can all comply with the SOP (standard operating procedure), we can further reduce the graph.
“If we have a second wave or not, it does not depend solely on the Ministry of Health. The responsibility is also in the public, “he said yesterday at the Covid-19 ministry’s daily press conference.
Dr. Noor Hisham was asked about the emergence of new Covid-19 groups in China and Korea, which have raised global concerns about the possibility of a second wave of the disease.
He expressed his faith that Malaysians will maintain their discipline throughout the period of the Conditional Movement Control Order (MCO).
“The IGP (Inspector General of Police) informed me that our compliance rate is almost 90%.
“Then we just have to focus on the remaining 10%.
“We have to make history. If we want to succeed and break the chain of infection, we must unite as one. If we all strive, I am sure we can. Malaysia Boleh, ”said Dr. Noor Hisham.
The city of Wuhan in China reported its first group of infections since it lifted its block a month ago.
In South Korea, a new group tracked to the Seoul nightlife district has resulted in the largest increase in cases in the country in recent days.
Yesterday, Malaysia recorded just 16 new cases, the best daily record in the country in the past two months.
Death from the disease was not reported in the past 24 hours.
Currently, there are 1,410 active cases under treatment in health centers across the country, of which 16 are in intensive care units.
Three patients receive respiratory assistance.
Dr. Noor Hisham said the ministry will continue its surveillance activities to monitor Covid-19 infections in the community, even though sporadic cases are low.
Such surveillance activities will include taking samples from patients with influenza-like illness (ILI) at sentinel locations, which are the ministry’s health clinics across the country, and patients with severe acute respiratory infection (SARI) in hospitals.
“As of week 18 of the epidemic, up to 9,010 samples were taken from patients with ILI and SARI, of which 81 cases, or 0.9%, were positive for Covid-19,” he added.
He compared this to week 13, when 8.7% of the SARI patients tested were found to be Covid-19 positive.
“The number of sporadic cases is small and has been decreasing.
“We will expand our surveillance activities to include sentinel sites. We will monitor and hopefully detect (sporadic cases) at an early stage, ”he said.
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