MOH wants CMCO to be further tightened to curb spread of COVID-19

Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said the proposal would be discussed with the National Security Council (MKN) soonest possible.

"... we tighten it and allow for the economic sector only," he said at a media conference on the latest COVID-19 developments here today.

He said all forms of large gatherings should be reduced to break the chain of COVID-19 infections.

The MKN decided to enforce the CMCO in Kuala Lumpur, Putrajaya and Selangor for 14 days from Oct 14-27 and for Sabah from Oct 12-26.

Yesterday, the Special Session of the MKN decided to allow owners and operators of commercial sports facilities in CMCO areas, such as commercial football fields, gymnasiums and futsal centres as well as commercial badminton halls, to operate again from Oct 19.

Meanwhile, Dr Noor Hisham said that the standard operating procedure (SOP) stipulated for prisons needed to be reviewed to ensure infections there could be reduced.

The MOH and the Prisons Department will work together to streamline the SOP, he said.

Asked if the D614G mutation of the virus was detected in the clusters in Selangor, he said the studies conducted by the Institute of Medical Research (IMR) would require one to two weeks to identify that.

The IMR had previously detected the mutation of the virus in the Sivagangga Cluster in Kedah, and subsequently in Sabah, the Sungai Cluster in Kedah and Ulu Tiram Cluster in Johor Bahru, he said.

He explained that the mutation of the virus caused a high level of infectivity, thus increasing the risk of widespread infection.

As such, he again advised the public to ensure constant compliance of the SOP, including wearing face masks, frequent hand washing as well as avoiding gatherings.

He said that during the implementation of the Movement Control Order (MCO), the MOH successfully controlled the spread of COVID-19 within four weeks because everyone stayed at home.

In fact, he said, even when the MOH was 10 days' late in intervening in the Sri Petaling Cluster, the infection in that cluster was still brought under control within 100 days.