By Iylia Marsya Iskandar
PUTRAJAYA, 12 April 2020: Following the extension of the Movement Control Order (MCO) that is approaching its third phase, the Ministry of Health (MOH) is in favour of exercising patience and suggested against allowing students staying in campuses to return home, Malay Mail reported.
In the daily briefing on the COVID-19 crisis earlier on Saturday (11 April), the Director-General of MOH, Datuk Dr. Noor Hisham Abdullah urged the Ministry of Higher Education (MOHE) to be patient and will advise MOHE after reviewing the latest data perhaps in the first week of the third MCO phase.
His statement was prompted by a statement by the Minister of Higher Education, Datuk Noraini Ahmad who announced that her ministry is studying ways to send stranded students on campuses home after their repeated pleas for help from the government.
Datuk Dr. Noor Hisham stressed that the third phase of the MCO is “the most crucial period” in the effort to overcome this outbreak and Malaysians must maintain the restrictions to reduce infections.
Despite the colossal cost that the MCO had put on lives and the economy, Datuk Dr. Noor Hisham recommended that no risk should be taken to undo the successes that have been achieved for the last four weeks and allowing students to return home could undo all the work done to mitigate the outbreak.
Commenting on the MCO, Datuk Dr. Noor Hisham added, “Based on our projection, we will likely succeed if Malaysians are together with the MOH to ensure that the restrictions in phase one and two are maintained so that the third phase we shall see the reduction in the number of cases.” ***
Source: Malay Mail
Photo credit: Malay Mail