Health D-G: M’sia Will Be Declared Covid-19 Free If Zero Cases Recorded For 28 Consecutive Days

Looks like we’re on the right track!

In the Ministry of Health’s (MOH) live press conference yesterday (11th June), Health Director-General, Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah announced that Malaysia will declare itself Covid-19 free when there are zero new cases of infection for 28 consecutive days.

“Currently to end a cluster, we monitor it for 28 days, which is two cycles of the (Covid-19) incubation period.” Hence, the same method will be applied for the rest of the country: “If we register zero cases for 28 consecutive days, then we will declare that Malaysia is free from Covid-19, that’s our benchmark,” said the Health D-G in a statement recorded by NST and BERNAMA.

Just a few days ago, New Zealand declared itself Covid-19 free after no new cases of infections were recorded for 17 days straight. However, the country still maintains its closed-door policy to foreign tourists.

As for Malaysia, the Health D-G assures citizens that he “expects all sectors to reopen by the end of the Recovery Movement Control Order (RMCO).”

Dr Noor Hisham said the ministry is currently preparing SOPs for reflexology and massage businesses to resume operations. “Under the recovery phase, we encourage all sectors to reopen in stages. For reflexology and massage activities, the ministry is currently discussing and reviewing suitable SOPs, which we will submit to the NSC as soon as possible.”

More sectors will be allowed to open as long as Malaysia’s cases don’t increase drastically. “What is key now is to make sure the (number of) cases will not increase exponentially. If we can maintain the new cases at single or double digits, more sectors will be allowed to resume operations,” added the Health D-G.

Hopefully, we can keep this steady downward trend going! 

Also read: Health DG: M’sia May Overcome Covid-19 Pandemic Without A Vaccine