Possible extension of CMCO in Klang Valley if COVID-19 cases continue to increase

PUTRAJAYA: The Health Ministry (MOH) may propose an extension of the Conditional Movement Control Order (CMCO) in Selangor, Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya, which will expire on Oct 27, if COVID-19 cases continue to rise.

Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said the ministry was for now monitoring case data daily to see if the CMCO in the state needed to be extended.

"We will disseminate the data, each of us knows whether it is necessary to extend (CMCO) or not. But the reality today is that cases are on the rise," he said at a daily press conference on the development of COVID-19, here today.

Dr Noor Hisham said today there were 76 new COVID-19 cases in Selangor bringing the total to 3,880 cases.

He said the state recorded an increase of 1,279 positive cases compared to 14 days ago, which was on Oct 11 when only 26 new cases were recorded bringing the cumulative total number of Covid-19 cases at the point to 2,601.

Dr Noor Hisham said the increase in cases also resulted in the number of red zones in the state of Selangor increasing from two to six districts in 14 days.

The most significant increase was in the districts of Hulu Langat (168 cases), Klang (115 cases) and Gombak (93 cases).

"The increase in local transmission cases in Selangor was first seen on Oct 2, and has increased consistently until today," he said.

According to Dr Noor Hisham, the transmission of COVID-19 in Selangor in the third wave initially only involved cases with a history of travel from Sabah involving nine clusters, but then there was a local transmission involving 35 active clusters.

"Lately, namely from Oct 11, the local transmission in Selangor began to result in workplace-related clusters, where so far six clusters have been detected in the state," he said.

Therefore, Dr Noor Hisham said apart from continuing the COVID-19 screening at all international and domestic entry points for visitors returning from Sabah, CMCO in the Klang Valley was implemented with effect from Oct 14. While employees in managerial and supervisory roles across the public and private sectors were allowed to work from home with effect from Oct 22.

He said employers were responsible for taking action against employees who are allowed to work from home but do not carry out the tasks assigned because they engage in social activities such as going out sightseeing, shopping and so on.

"For example, I have experienced sitting at home for a period of 14 days. At first I may feel sitting at home is not much work but for a period of 14 days, I think I worked 14 days.

"At 8 am I have a meeting until 2 pm or 3 pm (evening), at 5 pm Facebook live (press conference), after 5 pm have to update information on social media until 8 pm or 9 pm, every day for 14 days. There is no time to leave the house because we have Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)," he said.

Dr Noor Hisham said the main purpose of working from home was for more people to stay at home, reducing community mobility and the spread of COVID-19 in CMCO areas.

He also appealed to all employers and employees to abide by this ruling as it would help reduce the risk of transmission in the workplace.

-- BERNAMA