KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 13 — Health authorities expect to control Malaysia’s Covid-19 infection rate in 12 weeks now that the movement control order (MCO) has been reintroduced, Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said on the first day of the renewed lockdown.

In a press briefing today, he said it was still too early to see the effects of the MCO but insisted that it was the right move to help Malaysia suppress the growth of Covid-19 infections.

He also disclosed that the authorities do not plan to keep the MCO in place for longer than four weeks.

"With these procedures, we hope we can reduce the curve — based on our projection — by 12 weeks but we will implement two weeks first and see what the developments are in these two weeks and whether there is a need (to extend the MCO) or otherwise, it will depend on the data.

"And our projection is that by May, we can flatten the curve of Covid-19 cases in our country,’’ he said.

On Monday, Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin announced that an MCO will be reintroduced in all Federal Territories, Penang, Johor, Melaka, Selangor and Sabah until January 26.

Pahang, Perak, Negri Sembilan, Kedah, Terengganu and Kelantan will remain under the conditional MCO while Perlis and Sarawak will return to recovery MCO measures.

In his special address on Monday, Muhyiddin stated the Covid-19 pandemic was starting to overwhelm the country’s major public hospitals, 15 of which he said was already nearing their maximum capacity.

Malaysia reported 2,985 new Covid-19 cases in the country today compared to yesterday’s record high of 3,309 infections.

Dr Noor Hisham also announced four more Covid-19 deaths today.