Coronavirus disease
This Coronavirus disease has been one of the outbreak that spread quickly becoming a pandemic. It declared as pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO) in March 11, 2020. Many factors contribute to this disease to spread widely.
Firstly, during this outbreak, there is still a free movement of the people ignoring the quarantine policies who are in the threat of being infected. They are involved in a mass gathering without applying the social distance. Consequently, when one person infected with the virus, it could spread to hundreds by merely coughing. Secondly, a lack of awareness about hygiene is one of the factors that lead to increasing numbers of infections. For instance, people are not practising the correct way in coughing or sneezing. To prevent the transmission of this respiratory infection, we need to implement the cough etiquette. By using this method, the dispersal of the droplets can be prevented then the infection of transmission can be reduced.
From the data, we can see in April 2020, the outbreak of Covid-19 in Malaysia and Norway is decreasing due to the implementation of the Movement Control Order. It was referred to as the MCO and lockdown, respectively. The MCO is conducted on 18 of March 2020 in Malaysia while for Norway its government gives the order for national lockdown starts on 12 of March 2020. MCO and national lockdown deployed harsh security measures that only allowed people out of their homes to buy food and other necessities nearby. This measure implemented to curb the spread of Covid-19 beyond the locality and allow for house-to-house tracing activity throughout the allocated time frame. In the absence of a vaccine, reducing human contacts is the only way to stop the spread of the virus. Mostly, the fewer contact people have with each other, the less the infection can spread. With strict control of movement, the situation in certain countries is manageable.
From the resources of Health Care Rankings, Malaysia and Norway ranked on the 49th and 11th respectively for the Best Healthcare in the World 2020. Although Malaysia is far behind Norway, it could cope with the virus from spreading as efficient as other top countries. This achievement cannot be done without the cooperation of the Malaysian government with the Malaysian Ministry of Health (MoH). As the key players, they have made tremendous efforts to face and handle the outbreak during this period and beyond. For Example, MoH identifies the individuals that have high risks and urges them to do the screening test. Due to the many contact tracings conducted during the time frame, that is the reason why there are still increasing numbers of infected persons in both countries, although MCO and lockdown are still running. The patients quarantined while being treated after the tracing to avoid further infection. The statistics start to decrease again until it shows a good result at the end of the month. As a result, we can say that MCO gives effectiveness to curb the spread of the virus in the communities and flatten the curve as it allows us to buy time to prepare the country and public to face Covid-19.
At any rate, we Malaysians need to be always well-educated about the importance of preventive measures, such as practising social distancing, using hand sanitisers, and wearing face masks when going outside.