KUALA LUMPUR, May 29 — The relatively low number of Malaysians infected with Covid-19, compared to the majority of cases involving foreigners of late, has led Health director-general Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah to suggest that Malaysians have made an effort to follow the new norms set, and that this may be paying off.

From May 4 to 29, only 22 Malaysians were tested positive for Covid-19 out of a total of 1,800 cases. As such, most of the transmissions currently involve foreign workers.

"In our projections, despite cases spiking to 187, the Malaysians involved are in the low double digits.

"Perhaps Malaysians are practising social distancing and following the SOP (standard operating procedures). The question is are foreign workers doing this as well?” asked Dr Noor Hisham during his daily Covid-19 briefing today.

"We need to educate the foreign workers to practise the SOP as well and make sure to wash their hands and social distance even in a confined space. The Ministry of Health (MOH) has looked into this issue as well as all the clusters involved, and we have come to the conclusion that it is an issue of confined spaces.

"That’s an issue we need to solve together.”

Dr Noor Hisham said there won’t be a surge in Covid-19 cases in the next two weeks if Malaysians have adhered to the MOH’s SOP.

This is due to the Hari Raya Aidilfitri celebrations that saw many Malaysians cross state borders to visit their relatives.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has warned that countries seeing a decreasing number of Covid-19 cases could see a spike in the next month or two and have warned governments to be vigilant.

"Looking ahead to the next couple of weeks, if Malaysians have complied with the SOP, we won’t have any sudden or exponential surge in cases after Hari Raya.

"Only in the next two weeks will we know what’s the situation and we hope Malaysians continue to comply with our SOP,” he added.