By Xavier Kong
HEALTH director-general Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah shared that the implementation of the Movement Control Order (MCO) and Conditional Movement Control Order (CMCO), along with the adaptation of Malaysians to the new normal – all to combat Covid-19 – has led to the reduction of cases in other infectious diseases as well, such as hand-foot-and-mouth disease.
However, the Ministry of Health has also expressed concern that the immunity of children and infants could actually be weaker, as parents remain wary of bringing their children for immunisation due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Dr Noor Hisham urged parents to keep to their appointments and to immunise their children on schedule, as the service is still being provided as normal.
A total of 51 Covid-19 recoveries were reported today, bringing the total number of discharged patients to 6,610. 19 new cases were confirmed, seven of them imported cases with three of the remaining 12 cases involving non-Malaysians. The imported cases were seven Malaysians returning from Bangladesh, one Malaysian from Egypt, and one from Qatar.
This brings the total number of confirmed cases in Malaysia to 8,266, with active transmission cases at 1,540. Of these patients, six are being treated in intensive care units, where one patient is on ventilator support. One more death has been reported today, bringing the death toll to 116.
On the topic of exiting the CMCO, Dr Noor Hisham noted that, when moving into the recovery stage, all sectors will be open, while monitoring for any spike in cases. Should there be any positive cases or danger zones, a condition of semi-enhanced MCO will be put in place.
At the same time, with border control still being tightly enforced, there is the option of easing this to allow international travel with standard operating procedures and screening in place, but this is still being discussed, with nothing confirmed.
A test stage would be implementing this for interstate travel first to test its effectiveness. Should it prove effective the implementation for international travel will be considered.
“We need to look into the development of Covid-19 from time to time before we can make any conclusive decisions,” said Dr Noor Hisham. – June 5, 2020
