BERNAMA
11/01/2021
KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 1 -- The government has decided to implement the Movement Control Order (MCO) in six states - Penang, Selangor, Federal Territories (Kuala Lumpur, Putrajaya and Labuan), Melaka, Johor and Sabah - for 14 days, from Wednesday until Jan 26.
Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said another six states - Pahang, Perak, Negeri Sembilan, Kedah, Terengganu and Kelantan - would be placed under the Conditional Movement Control Order (CMCO) while the Recovery Movement Control Order (RMCO) would be enforced in Perlis and Sarawak for the same period.
“Based on risk assessments done by the Health Ministry (MOH), National Security Council (MKN) and other ministries and agencies as well as the advice of public health experts in the country, the government agrees that firm action needs to be taken to break the COVID-19 chain of infection,” he said in a special address aired live over local television today.
Muhyiddin said states placed under the MCO were classified as high risks based on MOH’s assessment and their health services capability had almost reached maximum capacity.
MOH would continue to make risk assessments to determine whether the MCO needs to be extended or not, he added.
The prime minister said COVID-19 cases had shown a very worrying trend of increase and a firm approach is needed to break the chain of infection to bring daily positive cases to a level that can be controlled and managed more effectively.
He said the government heard the laments and suggestions of the people who were very concerned over the spike in COVID-19, and also understood the burden faced by frontliners, apart from the fact that national public health is under increasing pressure.
Malaysia began recording four digits in new COVID-19 cases on Oct 24 with 1,228 cases, and that trend has persisted daily since to hit a record high of 3,027 cases on Jan 7.
In the third wave of the pandemic, 476 new clusters have been reported as at yesterday involving 259 workplace clusters (54.41 per cent), which is a sharp rise over the 110 new clusters detected in the second wave, which had 25 workplace clusters (22.72 per cent).
"MOH facilities can no longer cope with the surge of up to 2,000 new cases daily. Our healthcare system is at breaking point," Muhyiddin said.
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