KUALA LUMPUR: The possibility of lifting interstate travel restrictions when daily Covid-19 cases dip to two digits will depend on a risk evaluation by the Health Ministry.
Senior Minister (Security Cluster) Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob said the Technical Committee and Special National Security Council Meeting may decide on the next course of action after the Health Ministry presents its assessment.
"Each decision we make must be based on the Health Ministry's advice and risk evaluation. As such, if there is a new recommendation such as on whether to lift restrictions on interstate travel, then it must be presented by the ministry.
"Only after the Health Ministry's assessment can we decide if the restrictions can be lifted. For now, we can wait and pray for the cases to drop in order for travel restrictions to be lifted," he told reporters at a press conference on Movement Control Order matters.
Meanwhile, Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said any decision to lift interstate and inter-district bans will first be subjected to a risk assessment based on data and facts. He said matters that will be taken into account include daily cases and recoveries, Covid-19 trends and the infectivity rate, fatality rate, the occupancy rates of government hospital wards and intensive care units, the number of healthcare frontliners who are Covid-19 positive, as well as the number of RT-PCR and RTK Antigen Test conducted on the ground.
"We also need to look at local factors when deciding on allowing inter-district travel such as in Sabah and Sarawak, for example. As for interstate travel, we need to look at the zones and protect the green and yellow zones.
"The result of the risk assessment will be debated at the National Security Council. The matter will be jointly discussed to ensure that the decision made takes into account the balance between the health sector and the economic sector," he said in a press conference today.
Dr Noor Hisham was responding to criticism by business-interest groups over his Feb 26 statement that the interstate travel ban would only be lifted once the country develops herd immunity, with 70 to 80 per cent of the population vaccinated.
The Business Survival Group, comprising 262 business associations and Chambers of Commerce, had on Monday urged for the travel ban to be lifted immediately, arguing that "over caution kills businesses and that will kill the people."
Dr Noor Hisham, meanwhile, said the government is currently using public health intervention and the national vaccination programme simultaneously to contain the pandemic in the country.
"Take today as an example. Public health intervention has successfully flattened the curve, so now, we will run the vaccination programme together with public health intervention to contain the coronavirus in the country."