Want MCO To Be Lifted? Can, But We Must Fulfill These 6 Criteria First Says Health DG

The one thing most Malaysians, if not all of us, have been looking forward to is the likelihood of the Movement Control Order being lifted. Set in place on 18th March 2020 as a means to curb the spread of the Covid-19 outbreak within our nation, the enforcement of this law has resulted in a drastic lowering of cases. Of course, that’s with all of us doing our part and not going ke sana, ke sini.

But will the MCO be lifted? When posed this question, Health Director-General Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said that there must first be six criteria that we have to tick off, in order for the possibility to come to light, Malay Mail reports.

So what are the six criteria we have to meet?

1. Border control
2. Movement Control Order
3. Health system
4. Steps in protecting high risk groups
5. Sticking to the new norms
6. Working with the authorities to come up with a ‘soft landing’ strategy

So, why these six things? As Dr Noor Hisham explains, border control is necessary to prevent an influx of cases brought on by people who are coming into the country at once. As of now, out of the thousand of returning Malaysians they found 95 cases. From those 95, 68 came back from Indonesia, 12 from the United Kingdom, five from Singapore, four from Turkey, three from Holland, two from America and one from France.

The second criterea, the MCO, is key in keeping us at home and preventing large gatherings, so the chances of the virus spreading further remain low. As for the health system, Dr Noor Hisham says that Malaysia needs to have a good healthcare system and improved testing standards to handle the Covid-19 crisis.

Of course, the healthcare system must also be able to protect notable high risk groups such as the elderly, the handicapped, and those with underlying health conditions. Plus, we must also ensure that we ourselves as citizens can stick to the ‘new norms’, such as actively practicing social distancing and implementing good hygiene habits into our daily lives.

Finally, Dr Noor Hisham points out that we still need to identify all the areas hit by Covid-19 and ensure that their communities work with the Ministry of Health to make sure the virus doesn’t spread more. He also mentions that only when cases begin to drop to single-digit numbers, can the government seriously consider lifting the MCO.

Whew! While it may seem like a pretty long list of things to make sure we tick off, we should bear in mind that this is all done for the sake of keeping our fellow Malaysians safe from Covid-19. And from the looks of things now, our Ministry of Health is definitely doing all it can to ensure that remains true!