KUALA LUMPUR, 11 JULY: The Ministry of Health (MoH) expects the country’s daily Covid-19 instances to stabilize and fall in the next one to two weeks, according to Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah, the ministry’s director-general. He believes that a nationwide vaccination campaign and public health regulations, such as the current movement restriction, will help to flatten the pandemic curve once more.
He explained that the recent increase in new instances was due to increased targeted screenings, particularly in Selangor and Kuala Lumpur, which are currently under the Enhanced Movement Control Order (EMCO).
“The MOH had anticipated that the lockdown in the Klang Valley areas would result in an increase in daily cases as a result of the focused and community screenings.
“I am convinced, however, that with improved movement management methods, we will observe a more steady overall number of instances, as well as a decline within a week or two. Simultaneously, the immunization process must be accelerated “he stated
He mentioned this yesterday night on Bernama TV’s ‘The Nation,’ in an episode titled “Covid-19: Apa Lagi Ikhtiar Kita” (Covid-19: Measures To Be Taken), which was hosted by Bernama chairman Datuk Ras Adiba Radzi (Saturday, July 10).
Dr. Noor Hisham further stated that, based on the prior experience and lessons acquired from the second wave of Covid-19, the country should be more cautious and not hurry to open various areas that could result in an influx of new cases.
In order to manage more infections, especially those involving workplace transmissions, he added that continuing compliance by all parties, as well as the enforcement of standard operating procedures (SOP) in the field, such as the manufacturing sector, needed to be improved.
He stated the MOH was aggressively improving hospital capacity to accommodate patients, especially those in Category Four and Category Five, in the intensive care units, to explain the capacity issue at numerous hospitals that were believed to be congested with Covid-19 patients (ICUs).
“The issue we have is that patients in categories four and five take a long time to be treated in the ICU, anything from two to five weeks, and often require ventilators.
“These are the limitations we confront as the number of patients in Categories Four and Five continues to rise. That is why the Ministry of Health is working hard to expand hospital capacity “he stated
The Covid-19 illness is divided into five groups. Asymptomatic; mild disease; moderate disease (pneumonia not requiring oxygen); severe disease (pneumonia requiring oxygen); and critical disease (pneumonia requiring oxygen) (multiple organ impairment, possibly requiring assisted ventilation).
On Saturday, Malaysia set a new high with 9,353 new cases, including 29 new clusters, 19 of which were related to workplaces./n
