CORONAVIRUS | The public must stay home and practice social distancing or the Covid-19 outbreak will become worse, warned Health Ministry director-general Noor Hisham Abdullah.

"Failure is not an option. If not, we might face a third wave which will be bigger, like a tsunami, if we have the 'tidak kisah' (couldn't care less) attitude.

"I urge all Malaysians, please take the movement control order seriously. Stay home and don't go out," he wrote on his Facebook page.

He said Malaysia only has a small window to break the Covid-19 transmission chain.

Noor Hisham added that Malaysians can help the Health Ministry fight the outbreak by playing their role because this fight belonged to everyone.

The deadly Covid-19 virus has claimed the lives of two Malaysians and infected more than 600 people as of yesterday.

The government is currently enforcing a movement control order that is forcing most businesses to close in a bid to prevent people from gathering and therefore, slow down the spread of Covid-19.

'We may have missed golden opportunity'

Meanwhile, former health deputy director-general Dr Lokman Hakim Sulaiman said the implementation of the control order was not well thought out.

"After the prime minister's announcement, there was no follow-up forum or announcement to explain in detail what the order means, and how it is going to be implemented," he added.

The Star quoted him as stating that the government departments responsible for executing the order such as the police and army appeared unprepared to implement it.

"By right, immediately after the PM's announcement, the army should have moved in," he said.

Noting that deploying the army could have ignited panic, Lokman said the government could explain and calm the people down.

"Now, we have created panic anyway, and with people escaping in the thousands from Klang Valley, where most of the cases are, it only helped to spread the disease further," he added.

According to Lokman, the other government agencies also appeared to be clueless regarding the significance of the order and issued guidelines that were against the principle of the order.

"How could all this happen if the National Security Council knows exactly what it has to do?” he asked.

Lokman said the council must take responsibility for the lack of leadership.

“With the inspector-general of police backtracking from his order, it just shows that the council failed to anticipate all possibilities and failed to plan to respond to such possibilities.

“We may have missed the golden opportunity to stop Covid-19," he pointed out.

 

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