CMCO in Klang Valley not a failure - Health DG

KUALA LUMPUR: The implementation of the Conditional Movement Control Order (CMCO) in Kuala Lumpur, Putrajaya and Selangor since mid-October is not a failure, stressed Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah.

Rebutting the claims that the CMCO has failed, Dr Noor Hisham said that the spike of COVID-19 cases in Klang Valley now is confined to construction workers and is not in the community.

“I don’t see the CMCO is a failure. It has worked well (in controlling COVID-19). CMCO managed to contain and reduce the infection in Sabah.

“To implement the Movement Control Order (MCO) is going to be very costly. Hence, we have to balance life and livelihood with CMCO,” he told reporters during a COVID-19 media conference at the Health Ministry here yesterday.

Dr Noor Hisham said that the Health Ministry was ready from the beginning to face the increase in COVID-19 cases in the Klang Valley (Kuala Lumpur, Selangor and Putrajaya) as well as in Negeri Sembilan.

He said that the MCO was not implemented because 40 per cent of the country’s economy was concentrated in Selangor.

Therefore, the Conditional Movement Control Order (CMCO) was implemented (in the Klang Valley) on Oct 14, he said.

Elaborating on the COVID-19 cases in Klang Valley, Dr Noor Hisham said there are two big clusters, namely, the Damanlela Construction Site Cluster and the Merpati Cluster, at the construction site at the Kuala Lumpur International Airport 2 (klia2).

“The majority of cases from the construction sites are foreign workers,” he said, adding that out of the 1,103 new COVID-19 positive cases reported today, 53.7 per cent involved migrant workers.

Today, the Klang Valley recorded 543 new COVID-19 cases, compared with Sabah which has reported 288 cases.

-- BERNAMA