Covid-19: Health Ministry to recommend reopening more sectors if infections stay low

KUALA LUMPUR: The Health Ministry will consider recommending the opening up of more sectors such as social, sports and education, after the current phase of conditional movement control order (MCO) ends on June 9 if the low number of daily cases continue to remain, says Health director-general Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah.

He said the ministry had seen the positive impact of the conditional MCO and commended Malaysians for a high social discipline.

“Social discipline is as high as 90%. More importantly, we are seeing the recovery phase. Now, after one week of Hari Raya, the signs look encouraging.

“If the trend continues to stay this way, we will open up more sectors and monitor the situation such as the social, sports and education sectors, ” he said in his daily Covid-19 briefing on Saturday (May 30) in Putrajaya.

Dr Noor Hisham said that this was particularly important for Form 5 and 6 students who will be sitting for their examinations this year.

“We are monitoring daily figures, and we hope the good trend can continue, ” he said.

The current phase of conditional MCO was extended from May 4 to June 9.

“The virus is in the community, and it is important to plan how to live with the virus for two or three years until a vaccine or treatment is found, ” he said, adding that community empowerment was equally important.

He emphasised that this was not only the responsibility of the government, but the public also.

“If all of us come together, we can break the chain of infection, ” he said.