After hitting new records for 2 consecutive days, the Health Director General, Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said that the Ministry of Health (MOH) expects the number of daily Covid-19 cases will stabilise and show a decline in the next 1 or 2 weeks.
He said that the surge in the new cases over the past few days was due to more targeted screenings being carried out, especially in areas under the Enhanced Movement Control Order (EMCO), including Selangor and Kuala Lumpur.
“The MoH had expected that with the lockdown in the Klang Valley areas, the daily cases will increase due to the implementation of the targeted and community screenings.
“However, I am confident that with better movement control methods, we will see a more stable total number of cases as well as a drop within a week or two. At the same time, the vaccination process must be expedited,” he said to Bernama when attending the Bernama TV programme, The Nation.
In addition, Dr Noor Hisham said that the Ministry had experience and lessons learn from the second wave of Covid-19 previously. Hence, they urge the relevant Ministries to be more cautious and not rush to open several sectors and risk creating new clusters.
Nonetheless, he said that all parties should continue to comply with the SOPs to curb the spread. This is especially more so for workplaces, such as the manufacturing sector, where the SOP needs to be enhanced to more effectively control the infections.
On the other hand, there were several general hospitals which were reported to be overcrowded with Covid-19 patients. Dr Noor Hisham said the MOH are currently increasing the hospitals’ capacities to allow them to accommodate more patients, especially for those under Category Four and Category Five, in the intensive care units (ICUs).
“The problem we face is that the Category Four and Category Five patients take a long time to be treated in the ICU, between two to five weeks, including requiring ventilators.”
“These are the constraints we face because the number of patients in Category Four and Category Five is also increasing. That’s why the MoH is doing its best to increase the hospitals’ capacity,” he said.
Yesterday (July 19), Malaysia has reported a new high for daily Covid-19 cases with 9,353 cases, including 29 new cluster, out of which 19 were linked to workplaces.
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