'First phase of MCO shows positive signs of curbing Covid-19'
CORONAVIRUS | Data collected by the Health Ministry shows an early sign that the movement control order (MCO) implemented by the government to curb the spread of Covid-19 is working, said Health Ministry director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah.
He told a press conference in Putrajaya that the actual trajectory in the number of positive cases is lower than what had been projected by the Malaysian Institute of Economic Research (MIER).
CORONAVIRUS | Data collected by the Health Ministry shows an early sign that the movement control order (MCO) implemented by the government to curb the spread of Covid-19 is working, said Health Ministry director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah.
He told a press conference in Putrajaya that the actual trajectory in the number of positive cases is lower than what had been projected by the Malaysian Institute of Economic Research (MIER) (see chart below).
Showing reporters a chart that compared the trajectories of actual cases with MIER's projection, Hisham said the latter had predicted a continuous spike in the number of new cases, which did not happen.
"If we see the red lines, that is the projection by MIER which predicted sudden spikes. But, we had taken action during the two weeks of MCO, and you can see the blue lines.
"So, we do not have sudden spikes, and the graph is a little flat.
"This is an early sign that our actions under MCO are working," he said.
The MCO was implemented by the government as an effort to break the chain of Covid-19 infections in the country by encouraging people to stay at home and avoid coming out except to purchase of basic necessities or seek medical attention.
The initiative was initially set for two weeks from March 18 to 31 but has been extended for another 14 days until April 14.
MIER recently came up with its projection for Covid-19 cases in the country, predicting that there would be 4,087 positive cases by March 31, with the number of new cases steadily increasing in the last week of March from 236 a day to 399 on the last day of the month.
However, MOH's record shows that the number of positive cases daily was kept mostly below 200 cases except for once on March 26 when 235 new positive cases were recorded.
The total number of positive cases recorded by MOH as of March 31 was 2,766, which is 1,321 cases lower than that predicted by MIER.
Noor Hisham attributed this achievement to the joint efforts carried out by all agencies involved in the MCO and Covid-19 operations.
He said the ministry was hoping that the second phase of MCO which began today, would see an enhancement in their strategies especially at locations identified as Covid-19 hotspots.
"The next two weeks are very important to show that all the government's efforts so far are working well and giving the intended impacts," Noor Hisham stressed.
According to him, they will monitor all locations especially the hotspots and implement an enhanced MCO for an area if there is a sudden spike in the number of cases.
Noor Hisham also announced that the ministry had recorded the highest number of Covid-19 patients who have fully recovered and discharged so far.
He said that as of noon today, 108 patients have been discharged from Covid-19 hospitals nationwide over the past 24 hours.
This brings the total number of those who have fully recovered from the virus to 645 cases or 22.2 percent of the total number of recorded positive cases in the country.
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