PUTRAJAYA: The Health Ministry had wanted for the Movement Control Order (MCO) to be re-imposed in Selangor after the recent spike in Covid-19 cases.
Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said this was proposed during the National Security Council (NSC) meeting before the government decided to impose the Conditional MCO in the Klang Valley, which included Selangor, instead.
Dr Noor Hisham said re-imposing the MCO would severely affect the country's economy.
"40 per cent of the country's economy are derived from Selangor, hence, the MCO's implementation would be at a great cost.
"We need to strike the right balance between life and livelihood," he said during a special briefing on Covid-19 at the ministry here today.
When asked if MCO could be imposed nationwide to cripple the spread, he said the implementation of CMCO was bearing fruit.
He said the CMCO had prevented a sudden spike in cases.
"We have managed to control the spread. Now, we hope to bring down the R-naught value to 0.5 or below and return to register between double and single-digit daily cases."