PUTRAJAYA, April 16 — Health Director-General Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said today that Kedah, Perlis and Penang are still under the 14-day monitoring period before it can be declared to be free from Covid-19 cases, after days of no new cases.
He said the Ministry of Health (MOH) would then consider if they can be declared as green zones afterwards, with the ministry’s next aim to protect such areas as part of its exit strategy in containing the Covid-19 outbreak.
“Although it is true that Kedah, Perlis as well as Penang, for the last couple of days we do not have any cases reported, but what’s more important is that we need to wait for the incubation period of about 14 days before we can say that the area is clean,” he said in his daily briefing.
The 14 days refer to the length of the novel coronavirus’s period.
“So now, we are in the process of looking into it and if within 14 days there are no cases reported in the three states, then perhaps we can actually consider that the states will be green states. It is important for us to protect the green area, the green zones.
“Whether it is green kampung, green sub-district, green district or green state. So we hope that within 14 days we can actually identify that,” he said, adding that once that has been ascertained, the ministry would begin work to protect the areas.
