Health director-general Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah has appealed to Malaysians to continue practicing social compliance when the economic sector opens under the Conditional Movement Control Order (CMCO) on May 4.

In a daily press conference here today, he said, if the new normal were ignored, eventually the government's effort to level the COVID-19 infection curve through four phases of the MCO would be in vain.

“What’s important, when we reopen our economy, we have the guidelines standard operating procedures (SOPs) to follow. But we urge the people of Malaysia to practise social compliance, co-operation and continue to obey the SOP issued by the Ministry of Health (MOH),” he added.

Dr Noor Hisham said Malaysians should know that the COVID-19 virus will always be present in the community, just like dengue, and that everyone should learn how to control the outbreak.

Thus, he added, Malaysians need to be aware of two key criteria of the World Health Organization (WHO) which were very important to be followed.

“Two key criteria for Malaysians to implement are to continue to adopt new norms and to adhere to community empowerment - a shared responsibility to monitor the level of social compliance. If we do not, then our goal of control (COVID-19) may not be realized,” he added.