Despite fears of a full lockdown, Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah assures the public that there are no plans to extend the current Movement Control Order (MCO 2.0) beyond 4th February.

The Ministry of Health (MoH) director-general made no mention on the possibility of a total lockdown. However, he stated that the Conditional Movement Control Order (CMCO) will be implemented for the next 3 months.

“During the (first) MCO last year, the government lost RM2.4 billion per day, it had an impact on our economy. The results were good, but are we overdoing it,” said Dr Noor Hisham. “For this MCO 2.0, we expect it to last at least four weeks. We do not want to prolong it, because we must balance both life and livelihood.”

“However, the rate of non-compliance was high. What we must do is be responsible and disciplined by avoiding the 3Cs, and practice the 3Ws,” he added. The 3Cs are avoiding crowded places, confined spaces and close (proximity) conversation. The 3Ws are washing hands often, wearing face masks, and warn by practising caution.

“We expect the number of daily new infections to drop to double-digit cases in May,” Dr Noor Hisham continued. The current R0 — the rate of infectivity — has dropped to 1.06 (the highest was 1.2 on 29th October 2020). He’s hoping that the R0 will be less than 1 in 2 weeks.

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