KUALA LUMPUR:The 10-day monitoring and observation period will be considered for those currently undergoing quarantine, said Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah.<br /> <br /> He said the Health Ministry (MOH) would conduct tests on the eighth and ninth day of quarantine.<br /> <br /> "Those currently undergoing (14-day) quarantine will be considered for the 10-day quarantine period. We will also conduct (screening) tests on the eighth and ninth day.<br /> <br /> "(If the) tests are negative, then (we) will release (them) on the 10th day," he said during the daily COVID-19 media conference today.<br /> <br /> He was responding to questions whether the reduction in the monitoring and observation period for travellers returning from abroad as well as close contact management in Malaysia from 14 days to 10 days, which came into effect today, would apply to those currently placed under quarantine.<br /> <br /> Dr Noor Hisham also said that the infectivity rate or R-naught (R0) value for the period of Sept 12 to Dec 15 had been successfully reduced to 1.1 following the enforcement of the Conditional Movement Control Order (CMCO).<br /> <br /> "We began with an R0 of 2.2. If there had been no CMCO, (as many as) four million citizens would have been infected. But the CMCO successfully reduced the R0 value to 1.1," he said.<br /> <br /> Meanwhile, he said that the definition of 'close contact' that is currently being used is based on that provided by the World Health Organisation (WHO).<br /> <br /> He, however, said the MOH would review the definition from time to time.<br /> <br /> "Close contact in Malaysia is defined as exposure related to healthcare without personal protection equipment (PPE), including providing direct care for COVID-19 patients, working with infected healthcare workers, visiting patients or staying in the same closed environment as them and working together in close proximity or sharing the same classroom environment with COVID-19 patients," he said.<br /> <br /> -- BERNAMA