PUTRAJAYA, Nov 13 — The Health Ministry (MOH) is worried that the movement of six million people in the Klang Valley and Negeri Sembilan will contribute to an increase in Covid-19 cases in the states there.
Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said nearly all districts in Selangor, Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya were currently Covid-19 red zones and that it would be difficult to control the movement of people in these densely-populated states.
As such, he said, it was hoped that the implementation of the nationwide conditional movement control order (CMCO), except in Perlis, Kelantan and Pahang, would help to reduce interstate movement, especially in the Klang Valley and Negeri Sembilan, and break the chain of infection.
"It is quite difficult to control the movement (of people) from red zones in the Klang Valley compared to the movement of people from red zones in Sabah to the Peninsula because we can screen and identify them when they leave Sabah.
"We (the MOH) are worried if people from the Klang Valley or Negeri Sembilan, who are infected, cross over to the green zones. So, although we cannot limit their movement 100 per cent, at least the CMCO can reduce such movements,” he said.
Speaking at the media conference on Covid-19 development at the MOH yesterday, Dr Noor Hisham said their concern arose when the overall data showed that the number of new cases in the Klang Valley and Negeri Sembilan now surpassed that of Sabah's.
He said the combined tally of cases in the Klang Valley and Negeri Sembilan yesterday was 464 compared to 319 cases recorded in Sabah.
He added that the infection rate in Sabah could be seen to be stabilising compared to last week.
Meanwhile, asked about reports of the H5N8 strain of the bird flu spreading in South Korea and western Europe, Dr Noor Hisham said the MOH and Department of Veterinary Services (DVS) would continue to monitor the situation.
However, he said there were currently no reports of the bird-borne outbreak infecting humans and that, so far, no outbreak had been detected in Malaysia.
— Bernama
