Dr Noor Hisham: If Malaysia’s Covid-19 cases remain low, govt to decide June 9 whether schools, more social sectors will be allowed to reopen

KUALA LUMPUR, May 28 — The Health Ministry will consider opening up the education sector, including public schools, as well as more social sectors if the country can maintain a daily lower double digit or even single digit Covid-19 infection rate among Malaysians.

Its director-general Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah told the daily Covid-19 press conference that Putrajaya’s main concern right now is the recent Hari Raya Aidilfitri festive season and whether it will have any impact on the pandemic’s rate of infection in Malaysia.

“Today we see that the collaboration between inter-ministry efforts and the public has shown that we can bring down the cases. The strategy of applying the conditional movement control order (CMCO) was fruitful.

“But the question is when are we going to improve further and change the strategy. Our concern is the festive season. From now to next week and the following week, we will monitor the cases and see if we can maintain the lower double digits or even single digit.

“On June 9, we will make a decision. If we can sustain until June 9, while taking into account the festive season, then perhaps we can open up more social sectors and the education sector,” Dr Noor Hisham replied when schools will open again.

He added that the timing for reopening schools and the social sector is critical and this is the reason that the government is very cautious about making any changes to its policy.

Furthermore, he pointed out that it is critical for the public to continue working hand in hand with the Health Ministry by maintaining their social responsibility, discipline and compliance to break the chain of Covid-19 transmission in the country.

The latest data has already shown that there is a decrease of the novel coronavirus infection rate among Malaysians.

However, the current issue facing the authorities is the increase in infection rate among illegal immigrants at Immigration Department depots.

“If we can handle both, if we can do so, then we can bring down the cases. The decision will be made in June and we will see if the festive season has any impact on Malaysians.

“But if Malaysians comply with our standard operating procedure, then we can continue to have lower double digit or single digit cases,” he said.