COVID-19: New mission is to maintain zero local transmission for next 28 days - Health D-G

"Today is a good start as we have zero local transmissions. But more important is to maintain and sustain zero transmissions for the next 28 days," he told a press conference here today, adding that the one positive case today involved a 21-year-old Malaysian who was infected in Turkey.

He said the Health Ministry was confident of achieving zero local transmissions for the next 28 days if the public continued to adhere to the standard operating procedures (SOP).

Dr Noor Hisham said this when asked whether the Recovery Movement Control Order (RMCO) would be extended or ended early since schools would reopen on July 15.

He said the Health Ministry's intention during the RMCO was to open up all sectors, especially education, but it would continue to monitor schools and have surveillance on the number cases, adding that it would close down affected facilities if there were any outbreaks and take further action like conducting screening.

He said the Health Ministry would look into all avenues and improve as well as increase capacity in terms of detection.

Regarding the police being ordered to track down about 1,400 individuals who refused to undergo a second COVID-19 screening after their mandatory 14-day home quarantine, Dr Noor Hisham said the ministry had identified those involved and tracing measures would be implemented.

"Now, we will initiate tracing, why they did not turn up at the clinics. The ministry has all their data and locations.

"During their 14-day mandatory home quarantine, the ministry was always in communication with them, including reminding them to undergo the swab test for a second time," he said.

Meanwhile, he said the targeted approach on identified high-risk groups was still going on despite the low transmission rate.