COVID-19: MCO in six red zone states - Prime Minister

Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin in a special message today, said the move needs to be taken as at this time, the facilities of the Ministry of Health Malaysia (MOH) are no longer able to accommodate the increase of up to 2,000 new cases every day.

He added that the sudden increase in the number of patients will exhaust the capacity of the existing health system in the blink of an eye.

"It is not easy for me to say all this, but this is the reality that is happening now with various possibilities that we have to face if left unchecked without any strict public health interventions.

“The situation today is indeed very alarming. Our healthcare system is under tremendous pressure now than at any other time since the start of the pandemic. As I have said before, unprecedented situations call for unprecedented measures,” he added.

The Prime Minister said, based on the risk assessment by the MOH, the National Security Council (NSC) and various ministries and agencies as well as the advice of public health experts in the country, the government agreed that firm action should be taken to break the COVID-19 transmission chain.

He said this MCO will involve three stages of implementation.

First, MCO in six (6) states namely Penang, Selangor, Federal Territories (Kuala Lumpur, Putrajaya and Labuan), Melaka, Johor and Sabah.

Second, Conditional MCO (CMCO) in six (6) states namely Pahang, Perak, Negeri Sembilan, Kedah, Terengganu and Kelantan.

"Third, Recovery MCO (RMCO) will be implemented for the states of Perlis and Sarawak and will continue throughout the period," he added.

Muhyiddin said, the states that are subjected to MCO are high-risk states based on the risk assessment by the MOH and that the level of capability of their health services has almost reached maximum capacity.

MOH, he added, will make a continuous risk assessment to decide whether the implementation of the MCO will be terminated or continued before the two-week period ends.