by HARIZAH KAMEL / pic by RAZAK GHAZALI

AS COVID-19 infections in the Klang Valley can no longer be curbed with the current standard operating procedures, the Conditional Movement Control Order (CMCO) is the way to go, Health DG Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah (picture) said.

In his Covid-19 briefing yesterday, he said the CMCO is a more proactive and effective action, especially in ensuring that the country’s public health is taken care of.

“For Selangor, Kuala Lumpur (KL) and Putrajaya, although less than 100 cases are being recorded daily, they consistently record new cases every day. The cases are scattered in the Klang Valley and starting to spread in all districts except for Sabak Bernam.

“We can no longer just look and wait for the yellow zones to turn red to implement the CMCO. We must understand that risk assessment depends on an area and is not only based on the number of daily positive cases, but also the pattern of transmission of the infection,” he said.

He also reiterated that employers are encouraged to send their employees for screening from time to time, especially for sectors that involve interactions with the community such as shopping malls.

Meanwhile, Dr Noor Hisham said a total of 522 members of various categories and health workers have been sent to Tawau, Lahad Datu, Semporna and Kota Kinabalu, Sabah.

He added that in the future, the Health Ministry (MoH) will send 11 more medical experts, namely three clinicians and eight physicians.

“The ministry also calls on more health medical volunteers to assist the ministry in tackling the third wave of Covid-19.

“Coordination will be carried out by the Crisis Preparedness and Response Centre, and those who are interested and qualified can email to [email protected] or [email protected],” he said.

On the topic of personal protective equipment (PPE) supply to accommodate frontliners in the country, the health DG noted that preliminary planning has been made and that PPE stock is closely monitored at all levels.

Yesterday, MoH recorded 563 new positive cases, of which only one case was imported.

Sabah continued to record the highest cases at 291, mainly due to the large-scale health screening conducted in the targeted areas.

Penang came in the second spot with 141 cases — all from the Penang Remand prison — followed by Selangor with 69 cases and KL with 28.

Two more deaths were reported in Sabah, bringing the total tally to 159. However, 109 recoveries were recorded, bringing the total recovery cases to 11,022, or 67.95% of total Covid-19 cases in Malaysia, to date.

Six new clusters were identified, namely two in KL and one each in Sabah, Selangor, Johor and Putrajaya.