COVID-19 cases rise to 20,696, MOH says no MCO plans for now

KUALA LUMPUR: There are no plans to reintroduce any restrictions or Movement Control Orders (MCO), despite an increase in the number of new COVID-19 cases recorded.

Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad said that for now the Ministry of Health (MOH) is taking an approach of strengthening the COVID-19 management plan through five key strategies - early detection; community empowerment through TRIIS; monitoring of health facilities; effective risk communication; and digitalisation of the health system via MySejahtera.

In addition, the Kuala Selangor MP said, for now no new variant has been detected except the transmission of the existing variant, namely Omicron, and sub to the Omicron variant. “I hope there will be clarity (clarification) in the forward projections, how we position the SME strategy in the face of the COVID-19 surge or surge, which is also observed in neighboring countries.

“Malaysia (indeed) is facing a sharp increase in cases, and MOH hopes that this situation can be resolved without having to repeat restrictions such as the Movement Control Order (MCO) that took place at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. “I did not repeat the MCO because someone asked in the feed of page X, if there was a lot of annoyance there, so I explained, without having to repeat the restrictions like the MCO,” he told a special press conference in Putrajaya, following the increase in COVID-19 cases.

On the current situation, Dr Dzulkefly said that a total of 20,696 new cases were recorded for the 50th epidemiological week (ME), an increase of 62.2 per cent compared to the previous ME, with the majority consisting of category 1 and 2 cases. Of the total new cases, he said, 20,677 local cases (97.1 per cent) involved Malaysian nationals and 609 local cases (2.9 per cent) were non-citizens), while 19 import cases involved 18 nationals.

A total of 151 cases required treatment in the intensive care unit (ICU), with 96 cases requiring respiratory assistance, in addition to 28 cases of death were recorded.

Commenting further, Dr Dzulkefly said that so far KKM facilities including health clinics and hospitals are ready to cope with the increase in COVID-19 cases, and vaccine stocks are also sufficient for those who have not yet got them, as well as those who want to get a booster dose.

“In an environment of endemicity, we take note in the monitoring (surveillance), through the Heighten System Alert (HAT), the KKM leadership will monitor and control (the spread of COVID-19).

“And we will do it either through press releases or we will do press conferences like this ourselves, and it is correct, that there is an increase in cases, the current situation in Malaysia is under control, and not burdening existing health facilities,” he added.