Senior Minister (Security) Ismail Sabri Yaakob said the government was not being hasty in opening up the economic sector as people are still required to follow the movement control order (MCO).
He further said the government is ready to treat patients if there were any additional Covid-19 cases in the country.
“We are ready. We have enough equipment. In terms of those discharged, they are more in number than new cases.
“Now, the total number of patients in hospitals is lower,” he said at a press conference today.
He was asked if the government was ready to face an increase in the number of virus cases when more economic activities begin from Monday under the conditional MCO.
Ismail said there were enough beds, ventilators and Covid-19 test kits. The health ministry can carry out more than 16,000 tests a day.
He was also asked on the reported increase in cases in Hokkaido, Japan, after the government eased its lockdown. Earlier, the island had successfully brought down the number of infections there.
Ismail said people were allowed to freely cross borders in the Hokkaido case, leading to an increase in imported cases.
“Our borders are still closed. Our airports do not accept any foreigners. Malaysians are not allowed to travel.”
Ismail further noted that schools and universities are still not allowed to reopen and public gatherings, including at places of worship, are banned
“Just because we are opening up doesn’t mean we are doing it hastily, as claimed by some.”
He said the decision to ease the MCO was based on health aspects and to stimulate the economy.
“That is why we have introduced strict standard operating procedures for people to follow.”
Ismail added the easing of the MCO was in line with earlier announcements made by the government to ease the MCO in stages.
He said, initially, businesses were allowed to open till 8pm. “Now, they can operate till 10pm.”.
The same goes for those in the essential services sector. “At first, only those catering for basic items were allowed to operate, with 50% of the workers allowed.”
He further said the government has identified the various coloured zones to have a different SOP.
“Initially, we had the MCO implemented nationwide, then we focused on states and later to districts. Now, it is confined to localities.”
As for Putrajaya, he said even though it is a red zone, only 1% of the area is infected.
He added the SOP will remain as people need to discipline themselves with new norms, such as social distancing and washing their hands frequently.
Yesterday, Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin announced that the government will enforce a conditional MCO, beginning on Monday (May 4) to ease the partial lockdown implemented on March 18 to contain the Covid-19 pandemic.
He said certain economic and social activities will be allowed.
Muhyiddin said the MCO has seen the country incur RM63 billion in losses. If this continued for another month, he added the losses would touch RM100 billion.
Malaysia has recorded 103 deaths and 6,071 confirmed Covid-19 cases so far.
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