Don’t cause us all to be ‘sacrificed’, Noor Hisham pleads ahead of Eid celebrations

Health director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah has called on the public to learn from the mistake of ignoring SOPs, especially during festival celebrations in the past that triggered the spread of Covid-19.

He said this should be foremost on the minds of the people ahead of Hari Raya Aidiladha, which will be celebrated on July 20.

“The community is reminded that cross-district and cross-state bans are still in force. So is the ban on visitations during a celebration.

“Don’t let the excitement of celebrating Hari Raya Korban (Aidiladha) cause us all to be ‘sacrificed’ due to Covid-19,” he said in a statement.

While thanking those who have been diligently complying with the SOPs and remaining at home, Noor Hisham said there were some who refused to comply, which was what made the situation difficult.

He said since the implementation of the total lockdown on social and economic sectors from June 1, a total of 267 community clusters had been reported as of yesterday, largely due to the festivals which came earlier, namely Hari Raya Aidilfitri and Hari Gawai.

He said the clusters were triggered due to visiting activities in neighbourhoods or villages, and meetings between family members from different houses during celebrations and funerals.

“From these 267 community clusters, a total of 17,106 positive cases were reported by the health ministry. These cases were detected in 72,755 individuals screened (positivity rate of 23.5%) through contiunous active case detection conducted in the field by the district health office,” he said.

Noor Hisham added that several reported community clusters also involved cross-state activities.

He said the states that reported the highest number of cross-state clusters since June 1 were Perak with eight clusters (38.1%), Terengganu (five) (23.8%) and Kelantan (three) (14.3%).