Thursday 28 Mar 2024
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KUALA LUMPUR (April 2): The Ministry of Health (MoH) director-general Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah conceded today that it is too early to conclude phase 1 of the movement control order (MCO) as successful, even though he had pointed to 'early signs' of success yesterday.
 
MoH will reevaluate the effectiveness of the order by April 10, or a few days before the second phase of MCO is scheduled to end on April 14, and decide if the partial lockdown should be extended. 
 
"Although yesterday, I did say that we had some early signs showing some improvement, nonetheless it’s too early for us to make any conclusion. But what’s more important is this crucial next two weeks for us to flatten the curve," he told a press conference today. 
 
Noor Hisham reiterated that flattening the curve allows hospitals to be able to better accommodate patients, in case there is a spike in the number of Covid-19 cases. 
 
"We can see today that the number of patients in our ICUs is increasing. So, we need to make sure the capacity of our hospitals can function well to provide good services to our patients,” said Noor Hisham, adding that 80% of Covid-19 cases in Malaysia are asymptomatic or only showing mild symptoms, with perhaps only 20% of moderate and critical cases that require medical attention. 
 
"We are seeing critical cases of about 5% of the total cases. We have anticipated this to happen. That's the reason why we have strengthened our healthcare system or hospitals to be able to cope when the situation arises," he said. 

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Covid-19: Malaysia records new daily high in recovered cases at 122, but infections spike again

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