KUALA LUMPUR: Travelling abroad for leisure and major public events must be avoided even after the Movement Control Order (MCO) is lifted to prevent a spike in new Covid-19 cases in the country.
Malaysian Public Health Medicine Specialist Association president Datuk Dr Zainal Ariffin Omar said overseas travel should be avoided until next year and minimised until 2022.
Event organisers, meanwhile, should postpone holding big events, such as concerts, summits, sports, and gatherings until middle of 2021, he said.
"Practising social distancing, wearing masks and exercising proper hygiene should be the norm, at least until we have vaccines to prevent Covid-19 or have achieved enough herd immunity," he told the New Straits Times.
Dr Zainal said small social and religious events in mosques, churches, temples and the community could be held from middle of next month, especially in the white and green zone with strict community monitoring and surveillance.
"It is good if population testing can be done on this community either by the government, private centres or non-governmental organisations.
"The government should have specific plans to educate, screen and care of vulnerable groups, which include the elderly and people with chronic diseases.
"The existing medical facilities in government and private healthcare centres, as well as universities, are adequate to face any medium-scale outbreaks," he said.
These measures, he said, were crucial to arrest the spread of the disease as well as to prevent Covid-19 from adding to the burden it has already placed on the local and global economy.
Dr Zainal, however, stressed that everyone should practise social distancing, use masks when necessary, and practise good personal hygiene as part of the new normals.
The community, he said, should play a more significant role in educating neighbourhoods and inform authorities should there be any breach of the standards and also suspect cases.
Meanwhile, Health director-general Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah had on April 29 said the daily number of new positive Covid-19 cases in the country was expected to drop to single digit by the middle of next month.
The projection was made based on the trend where the new positive cases reported daily had dropped to double digits in the past week.
Dr Zainal, however, said single-digit cases were not really important, and it was not the end-game for Covid-19.
"Yes, we can see a downtrend and not a worrying trend of active Covid-19 cases. Thus, we can expect more relaxation of MCO mid-May onwards, especially in the green and white zone (with no active cases in 28 days).
"This could see all shops and factories being opened, and local children's playgrounds and small community parks in use."
He said schools should be opened in stages, where it could start with Standard 6 pupils, and Form 3 and 5 students in early July, while the rest in August.
Kindergartens could be reopened after the Hari Raya Aidilfitri, he said, adding that authorities should ensure proper preventive measures be adhered to.
They should, however, have no or minimal school assembly, gathering or public events, he said.
"Until now, we can still see the cases' link with the previous clusters which shouldn't happen if we had efficient contact tracing and case containment. This will trigger the next spike and new sub-clusters in the community.
"The authorities, mainly the Health Ministry, local authorities and the Occupational Safety and Health Department should focus on monitoring the opening, operation, social distancing and hygiene practices of premises and locations including public places.
"Close and regular disinfection and screening should be scheduled for these outlets," he added.