COVID-19: Malaysia still on track for single-digit new cases - Health DG

PUTRAJAYA, May 19 -- Malaysia is still on track to see new COVID-19 cases reduce to single-digits soon, says Health director-general Datuk Dr. Noor Hisham Abdullah.

“We are still on target based on our modeling, but the more important thing is that when we look back at the two weeks from the fourth of May until now, certainly the cases (COVID-19) have not increased, however, it’s not also decreasing as fast as we want to, but we are still hanging on.

“As long as we can maintain about 20 cases or even 15 cases, then public health teams can take action into the cases we have identified,” he said during the daily press conference on COVID-19 here, today.

He added that the Health Ministry (MOH) hopes that Malaysia can continue to maintain the number of new COVID-19 cases in the double-digits over the next couple of days.

“So we have been seeing, maintaining these double digits from MCO (Movement Control Order) 3, so the most important is that in terms of the number of cases, there’s no sudden increase, a sudden surge of cases into three-digits for example,” he said, while urging the public to work together and adhere to the standard operating procedures set by the ministry.

Meanwhile, Dr. Noor Hisham noted that out of the 35 new locally transmitted cases today, 22 involved foreigners.

“So we are looking at double digits, but lower double-digit numbers, and certainly we have still two active areas that we are looking into, targeted EMCO (Enhanced Movement Control Order) in Pasar Chow Kit as well as a locality in Pudu.

“So these two active areas we are looking into it and we are testing a lot of foreigners there, so although its a local transmission, but majority involve the foreigners,” he said.

Dr Noor Hisham added that Malaysia had 1,436 detainees at the Immigration Detention Centre in Kuala Lumpur, and 1,000 of them had been screened for COVID-19.

“Only the pre-MCO group comprising 436 detainees that we did not screen (remain), and our team (from MOH) have visiting services to the detention centre and to ensure (the COVID-19 screening is carried out),” he said.

Dr. Noor Hisham said this in response to a report that there were some COVID-19 positive cases detected among Myanmar migrants who were deported back to their country from Block A of the detention centre in Kuala Lumpur.

-- BERNAMA