KUALA LUMPUR (April 24): Health director-general Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah says Malaysia is currently in the recovery phase of the Covid-19 outbreak as the number of new daily cases continues to stay at the double-digit level that it retreated to about a week ago.
Malaysia might have seen its peak of Covid-19 infections earlier this month, he said, when 217 new daily cases were reported on April 3, following a spike to 208 the previous day. At the time, the country had a total case count of 3,333.
"Based on the various modelling that we have done, we realise that when we look into the data, April 3, when we had 217 new cases, was the peak then.
"Then, we were expecting a peak on April 14, so much so that the prediction was 6,300 total cases. But we did not see that peak. We thought perhaps Phases 1 and 2 of the movement control order (MCO) had flattened the curve. Now, we have come to realise that we are in the recovery phase," Noor Hisham said during his daily press briefing on the Covid-19 situation in the country today.
Nevertheless, he did not rule out the possibility that a surge in new cases may occur if the precautions undertaken during Phases 1 and 2 of the MCO are not continued.
"We hope we can continue our momentum, and make sure that we can control the number of cases and reduce the number of daily new cases from time to time. It is not impossible to have an exponential surge [in cases] if we let our guard down," he warned.
MoH had fruitful discussion with medical experts from China
Meanwhile, Noor Hisham said the Ministry of Health (MoH) has had fruitful discussions with the medical team from China, with both countries sharing their experience in combating the Covid-19 outbreak.
Organised by the National Health Commission of China, the eight-member Chinese team arrived in Kuala Lumpur on Sunday to help Malaysia in its pandemic fight. The team was made up of experts selected by the Guangdong province's health commission, according to Chinese ambassador to Malaysia Bai Tian.
The members' expertise lie in fields such as respirology, intensive care, psychiatry, infectious diseases, data analysis, virology and traditional Chinese medicine.
Among the topics discussed were public health policies, laboratories operations, medication for the treatment of Covid-19, and vaccine development, said Noor Hisham.
"In terms of [public health] policies, I think the policies and action plans that we have are almost in accordance with what they (China) have put in place. We are learning from them because they are ahead of us by about two months. I think this has been a very good discussion between Malaysia and China," he said.
"This evening, we will a meeting with the prime minister to discuss the issues and challenges that we are facing in order to be in line [with what China is doing]. At least, we know now that what we have been doing is on the right path. I hope we will be able to achieve the results we hope for," he added.
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