Health deputy director-general Dr Hishamshah Mohd Ibrahim noted that several countries in Europe and US had allowed social activities to take place due to their high vaccination rates.
However, these countries might have opened up prematurely and they are now seeing an increase in cases.
“We need to learn lessons from these countries. Although those with two doses of the vaccine are more protected from being seriously infected with Covid-19, it does not mean that we should remove restrictions hastily,” he said in a press conference today.
Hishamshah said the government was carefully approaching the matter, adding that it must first ensure the country ramps up its vaccination rate and continues practising strict compliance to SOPs.
“The current dominant variants are more transmissible and infectious. So wearing face masks and physical distancing must always be maintained, and avoiding large gatherings.”
Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin previously said relaxation of certain SOPs for those who are fully vaccinated will be announced in the next two days.
Health deputy director-general (public health) Dr Chong Chee Keong, who heads the Greater Klang Valley Special Task Force, said the ministry was recording around 80 to 100 brought-in-dead (BID) cases per week.
“We’ve analysed the BID and found that 80% were never diagnosed to have Covid-19. These are a group of people who either have no access to diagnosis or for reasons of their own, are not coming forward to be tested,” he said, adding that a big portion of these cases were also foreigners.
Chong also said there was a high acceptance rate among the general public since the ministry’s virtual Covid-19 Assessment Centres (CACs) began operating a week ago.
However, he revealed that half of those being monitored by virtual CACs did not complete their health assessment tool on the MySejahtera mobile application.
Meanwhile, Dr Steven Chow, president of the Federation of Private Medical Practitioners’ Association Malaysia, said the latest Covid-19 figures did not reflect well on Malaysia’s performance in controlling the pandemic.
In a statement, he claimed critically ill patients in the Klang Valley have had to wait up to four hours for an ambulance, before being referred to various hospitals for available beds.
He urged all community and civil society leaders to organise their own neighbourhood emergency care networks to provide medical assistance to Covid-19 cases in their vicinity.
“Immediate medical intervention should be given to those in the ‘golden hour’ whilst awaiting transfer and hospital triage. This is the critical step to prevent progression to irreversible disease and to lessen the occurrence of BID,” he said.