Dr Noor Hisham: Covid-19 cases in Klang Valley, Seremban rising at concerning rate

KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 12 — New Covid-19 cases in the Klang Valley and Negri Sembilan combined were now outpacing those recorded in Sabah, said Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah.

The Health director-general said there were 224 cases recorded in the Klang Valley alone since yesterday.

“If we add the total cases in Klang Valley and Negri Sembilan, the total is 453 cases, more than Sabah’s total today at 318.

“We at MOH are concerned about this,” he said.

“We need to look into how we can conduct our public health intervention activities in these places as they are high density areas. Controlling the movements of the people from one area to another and crossing state and district lines have been a challenge for us,” he said today during his media briefing.

Dr Noor Hisham was asked if a targeted enhanced movement control order (TEMCO) should be called at some of these clusters which have a high number of cases to which he said it wasn’t necessary.

He said if the source of the infection has been identified and steps taken to curb the spread, then there need not be a TEMCO.

For example, the Cergas cluster in Negri Sembilan has 220 new cases today. However, the source had been identified to be from a factory and involved its workers.

Dr Noor Hisham said the MOH has taken the necessary steps to curb and control the spread there.

Similarly, in Sabah, where the conditional movement control order (CMCO) is in place, crossing district and state lines have been disallowed and those who do need to cross will be screened by the authorities since Sabah is a red zone.

“Our concern now is here in Klang Valley and Negri Sembilan. We can’t control the movement of six million people in the Klang Valley and if they are carriers and go to the green zones they could infect these areas.

“So we call for the CMCO so we can limit these movements across state lines while in Sarawak we control the travel across district lines,” Dr Noor Hisham explained.

“Even though places like Melaka and Johor are getting better, we are always concerned that cases in Negri Sembilan can cross over to these states, that’s why we are still taking early action to prevent matters from worsening.”