By Karen Bong
KUCHING, Apr 10: The Movement Control Order (MCO) has been further extended another two weeks until April 28 to further flatten the curve and contain the spread of Covid-19.
In making the announcement on the second extension of the MCO today, Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said the extension was to give healthcare professionals time and opportunity to fight the Covid-19 outbreak and prevent the virus from starting to spread again in the community.
“Based on the advice from the Health Ministry and medical professionals, the government has decided to extend the MCO for another two weeks from April 15 to 28.
“The measure is in line with the WHO (World Health Organisation) view, advising countries not to lift the restrictions too early,” he said in his special address to the nation on the MCO today.
Muhyiddin added that as has been in the case of some countries, the outbreak increased again once the restriction measures ended.
“What I mean to say is that we must be prepared to face this situation for a relatively longer period of time. It may last for several months before we can fully assure that the outbreak has been totally contained,” he pointed out.
On the current Covid-19 situation in the country, he highlighted that the MCO has enabled health professionals to control the transmission of Covid-19 to a relatively stable level.
“With the efforts made, the positive Covid-19 cases are in control at 7 per cent, which is below the 10 per cent benchmark set by the WHO.
“The death rate is also quite low at 1.6 per cent compared to 5.8 per cent worldwide,” he explained.
The Prime Minister also reported that so far, 1,830 patients have been discharged from hospitals, translating to 43 per cent of Covid-19 patients cured and recovered.
Today (April 10), 220 patients who have recovered, surpassing the number of new positive cases of 118 recorded.
“The number of new positive cases are also decreasing in the past few days. If this trend continues for the next two weeks, we hope we can control the Covid-19 outbreak,” he said.
However, Muhyiddin pointed out that Malaysia cannot afford to take the current situation lightly as the outbreak is still in the middle stage and thus, precautionary measures and control must continue to be done.
“In fact, efforts to curb the outbreak must be intensified to break the chain of transmission. This includes giving focus especially on the target groups identified as the cause of the spread of the virus,” he said.
He reminded all Malaysians that the war on Covid-19 is not yet over and the fight is still on.
“We are doing well so far, so just uplift your spirit and continue to fight. If we persevere, insyaAllah we will win,” he added. —DayakDaily
