COVID-19: MOH draws up post-MCO mitigation plan

Health director-general Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said the mitigation plan also included a policy change that outlined the practice of the new normal.

"Definitely, we are looking into the exit strategy (after MCO is lifted). We are planning now and looking into how we can mitigate the situation.

"Our policy must change in terms of public gathering, social distancing and continuously remind our public to wash their hands. Most importantly, to stay at home if you do not have any business outside. That is the principle," he told a daily press conference on COVID-19 here yesterday.

Dr Noor Hisham said the soft landing approach would be used when removing the MCO and the discussion could take between three to six months.

In the meantime, Dr Noor Hisham admitted that the positive development in terms of decreasing numbers of daily cases was due to the early and careful planning.

"Today's success is because our frontliners and careful planning. What we plan today, we will be able to see the results within two weeks," he said.

Therefore, he advised the public to continue to cooperate with the frontliners as the World Health Organisation (WHO) had predicted that the world would be at "war" with COVID-19 even until next year.

"The war has yet to be won, but we have made significant improvement in terms of reducing the cases. Hopefully we can bring down the figure. We want to see a single digit," he said.