[ad_1]
PUTRAJAYA (Bernama): Wearing a face mask, especially in crowded and public areas, is highly recommended to reduce the risk of Covid-19 infection, says Director-General of Health Datuk, Dr. Noor Hisham Abdullah.
“The Ministry of Health (MOH) encourages people to wear masks, but at the moment, it is not mandatory,” he said at a daily press conference on Covid-19 on Monday (May 4).
In addition, Dr. Noor Hisham recalled that other conditions must also be followed, namely, maintaining social distance of at least one meter and observing good personal hygiene, including frequent hand washing.
“The Ministry of Health expects all Malays to adhere to the SOP (standard operating procedure),” he said.
When asked about public compliance on the first day of the Conditional Movement Control (MCO) order, Dr. Noor Hisham said it was too early to judge.
“But when looking at the practice of other countries like Taiwan or South Korea, they don’t have an MCO but they have social discipline and comply with the SOP.”
“Now the POE is clear and the Ministry of Health would like to urge all Malays to practice social distancing, put on a mask when they are in public and continue to wash their hands from time to time,” he said.
Dr. Noor Hisham said the POEs for industries and restaurants were also clear and that compliance was very important in breaking the Covid-19 chain of infection.
“If they can deliver, we can break the chain of infection, otherwise there is a risk that our infectivity rate will increase from the current rate of 0.7 and this will be closely monitored,” he said.
When asked about the ministry’s rationale for the conditional MCO, which was published in the bulletin, Dr. Noor Hisham said the strategy for phases one, two, and three of the MCO was to flatten the curve by encouraging everyone to stay. at home.
“MCO phase one, two and three and the first part of four is to make sure that the public stays home, that’s the message. Now the message to the public about conditional MCO is to follow the POE,” he said. – Bernama
[ad_2]
