KUALA LUMPUR, July 22 — Putrajaya will keep Covid-19 lockdowns at a local level in the event of an outbreak in that particular locality, instead of shutting down the whole country under the movement control order (MCO).

Deputy Health Minister Datuk Dr Noor Azmi Ghazali told reporters at the sidelines of Parliament today that the government also does not have the numbers to define a "third wave” of the pandemic at a national level.

"We will go back to our standard operating procedures just like we have been doing. If an area has a high number [of Covid-19] cases, then we will initiate a lockdown at that area, not the whole country,” said Dr Noor Azmi.

Touching on whether or not the Health Ministry will initiate a lockdown in Sarawak in light of the increasing cases there, the deputy minister maintained that the government will only issue a lockdown on areas that record a drastic surge in cases.

Currently, the government has sent medical teams to investigate the new clusters in Sarawak and the minister said that a decision will be made soon.

Regarding the mandatory wearing of face masks, Dr Noor Azmi said a decision on this will be reached soon.

"We have not defined which day we are going to do it. We are going to discuss it. If you look back at the prime minister’s announcement, it seems that from the sentence, he wants the decision to be made soon. You won’t have long to wait,” he said.