KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 8 — As Malaysia now faces the third wave of the Covid-19 outbreak, Health Director-General Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah reiterated today for Malaysians to stay at home.

In his press conference today, Dr Noor Hisham said that while public health officials are exhausting every available means to contain the pandemic, Malaysians can also do their part to flatten the curve.

"We asked for the cooperation from all levels, to be with the Ministry of Health for us to break the chain of Covid-19 within the community, because the virus now exists within our community and the best method is if possible, everyone stays at home.

"If you stay at home, then we can break the infection chain of Covid-19 after this. I urge all Malaysians to please stay at home,” he said, adding that this option is better than the physical distancing rule of staying 1-metre apart.

"We have now entered the third wave and it up to us to contain the Covid-19 situation within our country,” he added.

Dr Noor Hisham said public health officials are also utilising apps such as MySejahtera, and active surveillance through Covid-19 patients to detect Covid-19 positive cases.

Malaysia’s first wave was triggered by 22 Covid-19 cases in late January and early February, Dr Noor Hisham said back on March 4.

The second wave of Covid-19 started on February 27 and was the precursor to the nationwide movement control order (MCO) on March 18.

After managing to curb the infection, the government eased back on restrictions and shifted into recovery phase of the MCO on June 10.

The Health Ministry recorded 375 cases today, a drop from yesterday’s 415 cases, though five new deaths — all in Sabah — were added to the statistics.

Active cases now total 3,703. To date 146 lives have been lost to Covid-19.