MOH denies MCO not in accordance with the law

The Ministry of Health Malaysia (MOH) has denied allegations by some parties that the implementation of the Movement Control Order (MCO) has not been in accordance with the law.

Health Minister, Datuk Seri Dr Adham Baba said, they claimed the MCO could not be implemented because COVID-19 was not gazetted as a contagious disease under the First Schedule, Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases Act 1988 (Act 342).

“The MOH would like to explain that the COVID-19 outbreak is a new pandemic worldwide.

"Currently the COVID-19 outbreak is categorized under Article 30, First Schedule, Act 342, which is ‘any life-threatening microbial infection’.

"Amendments to the First Schedule, Act 342 to list the COVID-19 outbreak as a contagious disease must be made by the authority of the minister under Section 30 of Act 342," he said in a statement on Thursday.

The government enforced the MCO on March 18 in an effort to curb the spread of COVID-19 in Malaysia, which has seen a sudden increase in the number of cases.

During the MCO period, Malaysians were told to stay at home, not allowed to leave home as they wish while many companies asked their workers to work from home.

However, on May 4, the government implemented the Conditional Movement Control Order (CMCO) with a lot of flexibilities compared to the MCO in an effort to revitalize the country's economy.

As of Thursday, Malaysia had recorded 8,247 cases with 115 deaths. As of June 4, 2020, 6,559 patients have recovered and 1,573 cases were still active.