PETALING JAYA, July 17 — Health director-general Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah received an award by the BrandLaureate Awards for Most Outstanding BrandLeadership today to recognise his role in managing the Covid-19 pandemic in the country.

The award was presented to Dr Noor Hisham by The World Brands Foundation chairman Tan Sri Rainer Althoff and The World Brands Foundation founder and world president KK Johan.

An award for Excellent Healthcare Service Provider was also presented to the Health Ministry to honour frontliners’ dedication and commitment to providing the best possible treatment and relief to those affected by Covid-19, BrandLaureate said in a statement today.

"Without their sacrifice and unrelenting tenacity, Malaysia would not have been able to flatten the curve and reduce the number of infections and death tolls within these past three months,” the statement read.

Dr Noor Hisham took to Facebook today to announce the accolades, also penning a thank-you message to the World Brands Foundation on behalf of frontliners who have been working hard to curb the spread of Covid-19.

"Both of these awards reflect the dedication, commitment, sacrifice and resilience of every individual in the Ministry of Health and various agencies to provide the best healthcare service for the rakyat and nation,” Dr Noor Hisham wrote.

He also accompanied his post with several pictures taken at the award ceremony.

Dr Noor Hisham added that despite the many challenges and obstacles during the unprecedented Covid-19 pandemic, the ministry and nation managed to overcome them.

"Never before have we seen the whole of government machinery and society work seamlessly hand in hand for the sake of public health, thus making the tagline "Every sector is a health sector” a reality which others can now emulate,” he said.

Dr Noor Hisham also thanked the Malaysian people for their patience and cooperation given to frontliners and authorities throughout the pandemic and hopes the country can defeat "an invisible enemy”.

The post has since garnered 45,000 reactions, over 3,000 comments and 3,800 shares on Facebook within the first two hours it was posted.

Malaysian social media users have been flooding the comments section with congratulatory messages.

"Congratulations to you Dr Noor Hisham and to all the frontliners, may God bless (sic),” Hayati Jamal wrote.

"You made us proud Malaysians,” added Bernice Siah.

"Well done and we are so very proud of you and your achievements!” Joanne Mah commented.

The BrandLaureate Awards are often referred to as the Oscars of the branding industry.