THERE have been no exponential spikes in the number of Covid-19 cases so far, said Health Ministry director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah.

“We have been observing the cases very closely and have compared to other countries. There have been no exponential spikes yet,” said Noor Hisham in his daily Covid-19 press briefing in Putrajaya today.

He said the increase of 150-200 cases each day was “stable” and attributed this to increased or active case inspections by MOH.

“What we fear are sudden spikes of 900-1,000 cases daily. So far, it’s around 150-200 cases,” he added.

Noor Hisham was responding to a question on whether MOH is satisfied with the movement-control order (MCO).

“So far, we have seen around 8 positive cases in every 100 tested. This is within the range and there are no spikes.

“But we are prepared for the worst while hoping for the best,” said Noor Hisham.

He said this is one of the reasons why MOH is preparing additional quarantine centres and beds for Covid-19 patients.

On whether the MCO will be extended, Noor Hisham said they will review the situation after the first week of April.

“The next two weeks is up to all of us. If we have social discipline we can flatten the curve to avoid the exponential spike. 

“Our challenge is whether there is a second wave coming from Malaysians coming back from overseas. We will only know after the first week of April. If we have no exponential increase we can review the MCO again.”

Before the MCO, there were around 10,000 Malaysians returning to the country from overseas every day, said Noor Hisham.

“But since the MCO, the Immigration Department said there are only 4,000 returns now.”

The returnees will nevertheless be screened and even those who don’t have symptoms will be told to self-quarantine for 14 days, he added.

He said Malaysians will still need to practise social distancing after the MCO period.

“MOH will come out with guidelines to ensure social distancing after the MCO if there are Ramadan bazaars,” said Noor Hisham. – March 30, 2020.