HEALTH guidelines are in place to keep the spread of the Covid-19 virus in check as the government begins opening up more economic sectors in phases, said Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah.

“The standard operating procedures (SOP) for all services are already there. The only thing is, we are opening up in phases starting with construction and big industries.

“After that, we will open up the services sector, slowly but surely,” the health director-general told the daily Covid-19 briefing in Putrajaya today.

On how health emergencies are classified, Noor Hisham said there were three governing factors, as set out by the World Health Organisation (WHO).

“WHO looks at the fatality rate, infection rate and economic impact before declaring a pandemic. 

“For Malaysia, we look at the same factors.”

He added that while the Health Ministry had expected an exponential surge of cases in mid-April, this did not occur.

He said it is now also focusing on the recovery phase.

“And, we are now encouraging the economic sector to continue functioning as usual, albeit with new health SOPs, such as social distancing, better hygiene standards and temperature checks.”

The International Trade and Industry Ministry had said in a statement today that certain sectors of the economy allowed to operate during the first, second and third phases of the MCO could increase their operations to full capacity and operate without time restrictions. – April 28, 2020.