CORONAVIRUS | The decision whether there is a need to further extend the government's movement control order (MCO) after April 14 depends on the people's discipline, says the Health director-general.

Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah told a press conference today that the health authority needs to break the chain of Covid-19 infections in the country, and this can only be done by everyone abiding the MCO.

"It is up to us. If all of us come together as one, and we practice and embrace (the order) to stay at home, while we at the Health Ministry continue with public health activities and carrying out active case detection.

"We can increase testing and finding targeted groups, we test them and isolate them early.

"Then we can break the chain of Covid-19. So the next two weeks is up to you and me now. If we can all have social discipline, I am sure we can actually flatten the curve," he told reporters in Putrajaya.

Noor Hisham was answering a question on whether the Health Ministry foresees the need to further prolong the MCO, which has now been extended for another 14 days to April 14.

The MCO period was initially set to end tomorrow (March 31).

He said that the authorities would only be able to make the assessment on another possible extension of the order after the first week of April.

"If we continue to flatten the curve, and there is no exponential increase (in cases), then I think we can safely make a decision by then.

"But it's a bit too early for us to make any conclusion now," said Noor Hisham in response to a question on whether the MCO might be extended up to Ramadan, which is less than a month away. 

He said even if the MCO is lifted before Ramadan, those who want to go to a Ramadan bazaar must still practise social distancing of at least one-metre from each other, besides ensuring hand hygiene.

Such precautionary measures are important to stop Covid-19 infections, he added.

Asked on whether the ministry is satisfied with the outcome of the first phase of the MCO (March 18 to March 31), he said they found that the number of new cases is stable with between 150 and 200 daily.

According to him, there is yet to be an exponential spike in new positive cases, like what had happened in several other countries.

"What we fear is an exponential spike of maybe 900 cases or 1,000 cases (a day).

"But we do not have that. Every day the number is around 150 and 200 cases." 

Noor Hisham attributed this to the MCO and active case detection employed by the ministry, where they go into the community and identify high-risk groups for testing.

The active detection activities have so far recorded 8 percent detection.

"For every one hundred, eight will be positive. This is why we do active case detection. We identify them, test them, then isolate and treat them.

"So as long as it is within the range of about 150 and 200 cases, then we won't see the exponential spike.

"Nonetheless, we are ready for the worst, that's the reason we have the beds and all the temporary hospitals ready."

On complaints by NGOs that they were not allowed to distribute food to their target groups, Noor Hisham said while he understood their good intention, the groups still need to abide by the MCO.

He said the NGOs can still contribute to the society by sending their contribution to the centre operated by the Welfare Department, which would then distribute the food to those in need.

Keep up with the latest information on the outbreak in the country with Malaysiakini's free Covid-19 tracker.

Malaysiakini is providing free access to the most important updates on the coronavirus pandemic. You can find them here.

Help keep independent media alive - subscribe to Malaysiakini.