“Wash your hands frequently, practice social distancing, and just stay at home.”
Sound familiar?
Over the first Movement Control Order (MCO) last year, Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah would repeatedly say these words every day during his daily press briefing, and always stressed on how it’s these simple steps that play the biggest role in curbing the spread of COVID-19.
But almost a year into the pandemic, many Malaysians still don’t bother to follow SOPs put in place.
During his daily press briefing yesterday (January 26th), Senior Minister (Security) Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob revealed that 482 people were arrested for flouting SOPs, after 717 people were arrested on Monday (January 25th).
And among these SOPs, failure to practice physical distancing is still the top violation.
“Among the offences include failure to practice physical distancing (123), not wearing face masks (114), failure to provide materials for visitors to register (72), attempting inter-district and interstate travel without permission (53) and others (120),” he said.
Malaysia reported 3,585 new COVID-19 cases yesterday, bringing our total number of cases to 190,434, with over 40,000 still active.
As for whether the MCO will be extended beyond February 4th, Ismail said the issue must first be discussed with the Health Ministry (MOH), and any updates will be announced closer to the date.
On Monday, Dr Noor Hisham said the MOH has no plans to extend MCO 2.0, and expects the number of new cases to gradually go down from today (January 27th).
But guys, please continue to follow SOPs, regardless of what happens.
We just have to accept that following SOPs is part of the new norm, and that not following them is not only a violation, but also a complete disregard for the safety of our fellow Malaysians.
We’re all in this together!
by Kyle Roshen Jacob
