Covid-19: What does 'flattening the curve' mean?

Asking people to work from home and closing schools are part of the mitigation phase of a pandemic, which Malaysia is now experiencing. — YAP CHEE HONG/ The Star

With 553 cases as of March 16 (2020) noon and an unprecedented jump from 41 new cases on March 14 (2020) to 190 new cases on March 15 (2020), the Government issued the movement control order (MCO) on March 16 (2020) with the sole intention of slowing down the spread of Covid-19.

Although this is going to cause great inconvenience to the public and a huge economic loss to the nation, there is simply no choice, as we have to reduce the number of new cases quickly.