Daily new COVID-19 cases expected to drop to single digits by mid-May - Dr Noor Hisham

The daily number of new positive COVID-19 cases in the country is expected to drop to single digits by the middle of May, said Health director-general Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah.

He said this projection was based on the trend where the new positive cases reported daily had dropped to double digits in the past week.

However, he said whether this target can be achieved or not depends on the people’s adherence to the new norms they have been practising since the Movement Control Order (MCO) was implemented on March 18.

"If there is no necessity to go out, stay at home...this is our message. Now the safest thing to do is to stay at home; no infection from one person to another.

"The number of infective cases has also been dropping. We hope the figure of 1,700 (infective) cases now will drop to 1,000 and then to 500," he said at a daily media briefing on COVID-19 here today.

Dr Noor Hisham stressed that the lower incidence of new positive cases were not because screenings had been reduced.

On the contrary, screenings had been maintained at around 11,000 daily and testings would be increased to reach up to 22,000 tests daily by next week, he said.

Dr Noor Hisham also said the antigen test kits ordered from South Korea was expected to enable the Health Ministry to screen all healthcare frontliners every two weeks.

The test kits, which are expected to arrive next week, would also be distributed to all hospitals treating COVID-19 cases in the country, he added.

Meanwhile, Dr Noor Hisham urged those suspected to have been exposed to COVID-19 positive cases at the Selayang Wholesale Market to come forward for screening, especially if they have symptoms like cough and fever.

He said the ministry was actively conducting case detection among those who have links with the Selayang Whole Market cluster, including traders at the Taman Megah, Jalan Osman and Chow Kit wet markets.

Asked whether any reinfection was detected among those who had recovered from COVID-19, he said there had been none so far.

"Once they were discharged, if they have symptoms then they probably would come back to us.

"So far we don't have reinfections. We do have maybe residual (cases); residual means virus-shedding period,” he added.

-- BERNAMA