COVID-19: Health D-G pays tribute to frontliners, urges M'sians to keep up the fight

KUALA LUMPUR, May 2 -- Health director-general Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah has expressed his gratitude to frontliners for helping to flatten the COVID-19 curve in the country and reminded Malaysians that the fight against the deadly disease is far from over.

He said even though Malaysia has been successful in averting a national disaster experienced by many countries, the war against COVID-19 is not over yet, as next week will witness the country fighting in a new battle field with new strategies in place.

“My deepest gratitude to everyone in the Health Ministry (MOH) especially, working as a team towards a common goal to control the spread of COVID-19 in our beloved nation,” said Dr Noor Hisham in his facebook posting today.

As Malaysia is in the phase to restart its economy, Dr Noor Hisham advised everyone to plan and follow social discipline and social compliance to the standard operating procedure (SOP) come May 4, as well as take all the precautionary measures and maintain good personal hygiene.

“Many of you will be heading back to work come May 4. The first week back should be used to strategise, plan and implement these new changes and not necessarily for you to fully resume the services.

“Employers must ensure all employees adhere to safe distancing, especially in confined spaces. You may need to rearrange the office space to make it more spacious and safe, regularly sanitise common areas such as pantries or prayer rooms and only allow a limited number of people to congregate in a space at any one time to ensure safe social distancing,” he added.

Dr Noor Hisham stressed that MOH’s guiding principles are clear and the onus is on the employers to implement them.

“We must adapt to these new norms. The world will not be the same anymore. We must all learn that every individual action has a ripple effect on how we manage COVID-19 in our community. We have to adapt, adjust and accommodate the new norms in our lives,” he said.

He reminded all Malaysians to help each other to make sure loved ones especially those who are vulnerable are safe.

“Let us keep Malaysia safe. Let’s emerge victorious at the end of this war against an invisible enemy. If you have no reason to go out, please stay safe and stay at home,” said Dr Noor Hisham.

Earlier during his daily COVID-19 media briefing, he said the Movement Control Order (MCO) had helped to flatten the COVID-19 curve, especially following the imposition of the Enhanced Movement Control Order (EMCO) in 11 high-risk localities.

Malaysia will ease the MCO beginning Monday to allow most economic activities to resume. The MCO is in force from March 18 to May 12.   

-- BERNAMA