KUALA LUMPUR: The Health Ministry is expected to come up with a new Covid-19 zoning system which gives greater details of the actual situation on the ground.
Federal Territories Security Working Committee chairman Tan Sri Annuar Musa said the classification of the Covid-19 zones under the new zoning system would be based on the number of infections recorded in every ‘mukim’ (sub-district).
Under the present zoning system, he said, the classification of Covid-19 zones were made according to the territories serviced by the respective health district offices in the country.
Annuar, who is also the Federal Territories Minister, cited Putrajaya which had been categorised as Covid-19 red zone although no areas within the country’s administrative capital, had recorded more than 40 cases in the number of infections.
“It should be noted that several precincts in Putrajaya such as Precinct 1, 2, 3, 4, 12, 13, 16, 17, 19 and 20 are considered ‘green zones’ since there are no Covid-19 cases recorded in these areas.
“Whereas, only precinct Diplomat, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 14, 15 and 18 are considered Covid-19 ‘yellow zones’ (areas with up to 20 Covid-19 cases).
“However, when the cases from all the precincts are combined together, collectively the entire of Putrajaya is considered as Covid-19 red zone,” said Annuar in a live-telecast press conference via the official Facebook account of the Federal Territories Ministry today.
The press conference was held to update on the issues discussed and deliberated during the National Security Council (NSC) meeting earlier today.
In actual fact, Annuar said Putrajaya should not be considered as Covid-19 red zone since number of cases here was not that “alarming”.
He said issues related to the Covid-19 meeting was also raised during the NSC meeting chaired by Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin.
“Even the prime minister has proposed (a more detailed Covid-19 zoning system) that reflects the actual situation on the ground,” he said.
According to the Health Ministry’s official Twitter account, Putrajaya and 26 other areas are considered as Covid-19 red zones as of noon yesterday.
It was reported that Health director-general Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah had said the ministry was in the process of reviewing the classification of Covid-19 zones.
The present Covid-19 zoning system is divided into four zones according to the number of reported cases namely red, orange, yellow and green.