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PETALING JAYA: Authorities would no longer wait for Covid-19 cases to escalate to “red zone” status before imposing a blockade on an area, says Chief Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob.
The defense minister said the preventive lockdown measures were necessary to quickly break the chain of transmission before it spreads to other regions and states.
“For example, when we first imposed the blockade on Mukim Klang, we did not block Kapar.
“People were free to move and eventually Kapar became a red zone, and one by one it spread to other districts, including Petaling, Gombak, and Kajang.
“If we wait for the areas to become red zones before imposing a movement control order (MCO), it may be too late,” he told a news conference on Wednesday (November 11).
He said that preventive measures will be taken based on the risk analysis of the Ministry of Health.
“We will impose preventive measures before the areas become red zones.
“We no longer want to apply the fire suppression strategy to put out the fire, as the virus is also spreading in the community.
“As seen in Sabah, cases have dropped from an average of 700 to 800 cases per day to about 200 today,” he said.
Ismail attributed the reduced number of cases to the closing of state and district borders.
He also noted that Negeri Sembilan, which used to be an ecological state, had Covid-19 cases in all districts except Tampin, as no preventive measures were taken to close the borders.
He said that many people still wonder why authorities have taken such drastic measures to close state borders.
“We are doing this to save the rakyat,” he said.
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