Health Ministry to review strategy to contain resurgence in COVID-19 infections

Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said the strategies under consideration include implementing different targeted approaches between red and green states and to tighten interstate border controls.

"For red states, more drastic measures need to be carried out and more targeted approaches based on clusters in the states involved.

"We also will tighten border controls by stopping those crossing district and state lines.

"We need a circuit breaker to control, to bring down the cases from 2,000 to maybe down to 200 before we can manage the whole situation better," he said during a media conference regarding COVID-19 developments here yesterday.

Dr Noor Hisham said the ministry was studying the model used by Sarawak to control the spread of COVID-19 in the state, including conducting mandatory swab tests and imposing quarantine on those who have returned home before allowing them to mingle with the local community.

"Our strategy would be changed, we are more localising and targeting in terms of implementation, rather than the whole nation's approach.

"Discussion is ongoing, the ministry will advise but we believe in the government’s 'wisdom' to make a right decision," he said adding that the ministry expects daily cases would increase in one to two weeks, especially after New Year’s Eve.

He said although actions taken since Oct 14 have stopped a drastic rise in cases, they were not successful in reducing infectivity, which still remains at R0 1.1 to R0 0.5.

In addition, Dr Noor Hisham said the ministry was considering to place asymptomatic positive cases and mild cases at quarantine centres currently used by travellers returning from abroad, while foreign workers will be treated at low-risk COVID-19 quarantine and treatment centres.

When asked about the risk of COVID-19 spreading at flood relief centres in the states of Selangor, Perak, Terengganu, Pahang and Johor, Dr Noor Hisham said currently there was no new cluster detected while Patients Under Surveillance (PUS) and Persons Under Investigation (PUI) were not those affected by the floods.