KUALA LUMPUR, June 1 — The Ministry of Health (MOH) said today it will continue to monitor the Covid-19 infection chain in the country before deciding on whether the conditional movement control order (CMCO) could be lifted after June 9.

Its director-general Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah also said monitoring will continue in the next one week and if there are no spikes in positive cases, MOH will discuss with the National Security Council (NSC) on how the government can enforce a further relaxed MCO.

“If we look at locally transmitted cases among local communities, we are below daily predicted projections,” he said today during MOH’s daily briefing on Covid-19.

The Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin had on May 1 announced a conditional MCO where sectors including non-essential services were allowed to resume operations.

This also saw several rules under the MCO relaxed such as allowing dine-in at restaurants and no vehicle passenger limit, among others.

Dr Noor Hisham also added that MOH has also expected a spike during the Hari Raya week, but observations have shown that there were no spike in positive cases.

“We expected a spike during the Hari Raya celebrations, but there was no spike in cases that week.

“So this means that Malaysians are following standard operating procedures (SOPs),” he said.

Meanwhile, addressing questions on resuming childcare services, Dr Noor Hisham said a more detailed proposal on SOPs will be presented during the meeting with NSC tomorrow.

“What we can see is that, since we have reopened the economy, many parents are in need to child daycare services.

“What is important is safety at childcare centres,” he said.

He added that the ministry has fine-tuned the term “isolation” to “priority” with regards to children of frontliners who will be enrolled into childcare centres, especially at MOH.

At the same time, Dr Noor Hisham said MOH is requesting to add more childcare centres at 146 hospitals under MOH.

To date, there are 112 childcare centres at respective hospitals under MOH.

“We will also try to propose that childcare centres operate in two shifts since frontliners also work in shifts.

“But if they can help it, it would be better to stay at home.

“But if nobody is home to take care of their child, we will make preparations at the childcare centres to cater for their child,” he said.

He added that if there are insufficient spots at hospital childcare centres, MOH is requesting the childcare centres to prioritise frontliners’ children.

He added that several SOPs have been discussed and will be presented tomorrow while the date to resume childcare centres will be decided later.