KUALA LUMPUR: Although the country's new Covid-19 cases and clusters mostly hail from areas now placed under various movement control orders, the general public should nevertheless exercise vigilance.
Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah warned that failure to comply with the standard operating procedures (SOP) in place will only give the opportunity for the virus to spread within the community.
He said cooperation from the public, especially in Sabah, in taking precautionary measures will help the ministry prevent cases from escalating.
"Avoid crowded and confined places, do not engage in close-quarter conversations. Continue embracing the new normal by wearing face masks in public, ensure physical distancing and wash your hands.
"If we fail to adhere to the SOP, we are giving the opportunity to the virus to spread among us.
"Let us work together in order to break the transmission chain of the virus," said Dr Noor Hisham, who is currently observing self-quarantine, during a live press conference from his home which was streamed on the Health Ministry's Facebook page.
On a related matter, he said the ministry is in the process of resolving logistical issues on the testing of samples taken from the people in Sabah.
He said at the moment, labs in Sabah can only test a maximum of 3,000 samples daily.
"Our labs are processing the samples as fast as they can. At the same time, we (labs outside Sabah) are also supporting some tests on samples taken in Sabah.
"We have the capacity but the issue is logistics, in terms of bringing some of the samples from Sabah. The frequency of flights would also speed up the tests.
"Our benchmark is to have the samples tested within 24 and 72 hours, on top of increasing our efficiency," he said.
Dr Noor Hisham also called on private hospitals and medical-based non-governmental organisations (NGO) to help the ministry in efforts to control the pandemic in Sabah.
"When we started (when the pandemic first hit earlier in the year), we had cooperation from private hospitals as well as NGOs working together with the ministry.
"Today, I urge the NGOs and private sector including doctors to come together to help us to contain the infection in Sabah," he said.