THE conditional movement-control order (CMCO) implemented until December 6 in almost all states was to save areas without any Covid-19 cases, said director-general of health Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah.

He said that in the third wave of the pandemic, the virus is already in the community and it would be late if Putrajaya were to implement a partial lockdown after areas turned into red zones. 

“We do not need to wait until all the zones become red… so we had to take action.

“For example, in Sarawak, Kuching is under CMCO but we need to protect the other green areas. 

“Green-zone states like Perlis, Pahang, Kelantan have to be protected,” he said at a press conference in Putrajaya today.

Citing Selangor, he said the state had first objected to the CMCO implementation but at present there are more than six red-zone districts, two in yellow and one orange.

“The density and the mobility of the population in the state is high. So, what we implemented was a proactive and pre-emptive move.

“There were lots of objections but today, there are already six red zones and another two that might be red zones too (in Selangor),” he said.

Noor Hisham said the CMCO was the best approach to balance life and livelihood, economy and health.

He said that the partial lockdown was implemented to limit travel across borders, states and even districts, adding that movement from one place to another risks transmission.

Noor Hisham also said the CMCO has shown positive results as the Covid-19 infectivity rate (R0) has been brought below 1. 

He said the public will need to deal with life under such conditions until a vaccine is found. 

“There is no back-to-normal situation and we need to live with the virus. 

“We need to adapt to this new environment to survive and prevent the infection,” he said.

He said the CMCO was now projected for a period of four weeks but said the recovery MCO could come into force earlier if the curve is flattened, adding that the public need to strictly adhere to the standard operating procedure.

Last week, Malaysia reinstated CMCO across all but three states in Peninsular Malaysia for four weeks, as the country continues to battle a resurgence of the virus.

The partial lockdown, which will run from November 9 to December 6, will affect the states of Kedah, Penang, Negri Sembilan, Johor and Terengganu.

The three states not affected by the restrictions are Kelantan, Perlis and Pahang.

CMCO for Sabah, Selangor, Putrajaya and Kuala Lumpur, originally scheduled to end on November 9, has also been extended to December 6. – November 9, 2020.