Restricted movement from tomorrow

Health DG: Move due to rise in new infections in Selangor, KL and Putrajaya

The conditional movement control order (MCO) has to be implemented for the whole of Selangor, Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya due to the cases being widespread in terms of location, says the Health Ministry.

Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said although the cases were fewer than 100 in each district, the number of new infections were consistently growing every day.

“The cases are scattered all over the Klang Valley and the infection has spread to all districts, except for Sabak Bernam,” he said.

“We cannot wait for all zones to turn to red from yellow and only then implement the conditional MCO.

“If the cases had been concentrated in one district, a targeted enhanced MCO would suffice. But because it is spread out, it is difficult to curb.

“Controlling the district borders within Selangor and the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur is also not easy.

“So, the best move to break the chain of infection is to implement a conditional MCO for the entire state,” said Dr Noor Hisham during a press conference broadcasted live from his home.

Senior Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob had earlier announced the conditional MCO which would be implemented in Selangor, Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya from 12.01am tomorrow to Oct 27.

Dr Noor Hisham said under the conditional MCO, businesses would still be allowed to operate although social, educational and sports sectors would be halted during this period.

“It is a real challenge for the Health Ministry and the government to strike a balance between life and livelihood.

“So, we mitigated the situation with the conditional MCO. We allowed the economic sector to function but we restrict the movements for social, education and sports.

“We hope this will strike a right balance. Hopefully, our actions will bear fruit in two or three weeks and we will continue to monitor the situation closely,” said Dr Noor Hisham.

Earlier, he said the battle against Covid-19 pandemic by the country’s frontliners in Sabah was now at a critical moment.

Several strategies and approaches would be taken to break the Covid-19 chain in the state, he added.

“Our strategy is based on community surveillance, contact tracing to find, test, isolate and treat all infected persons and breaking the chain of infection further by tightening the state and district borders,” he said on Twitter.

Yesterday, Selangor recorded 69 new Covid-19 cases while Kuala Lumpur saw 27 new infections. Four of the country’s new clusters were found in the state and Federal Territory.

In Putrajaya, there are two new Covid-19 cases, linked to the Selasih cluster and the new Bah Kasturi cluster.