PUTRAJAYA – Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah has advised Malaysians to avoid panic buying in light of the Deepavali festival this Saturday to reduce the risk of spreading COVID-19.
He said panic buying would only cause crowding at the shopping centres and markets, and might increase the risk of infection.
“When we enforced the Conditional Movement Control Order (CMCO), the economic sector is still open, shops are still open, so we don’t need to resort to panic buying,” he said during the daily COVID-19 briefing today.
He was asked about crowding at areas selling Deepavali-related products in Klang Valley after the announcement that the CMCO would be enforced throughout Peninsular Malaysia, with the exception of Perlis, Pahang and Kelantan, from today till Dec 6, which raised concerns that a Deepavali cluster might occur.
Dr Noor Hisham urged the public to limit their movements and to avoid big crowds, as well as to plan their purchases throughout the CMCO period to help flatten the COVID-19 infection curve.
— BERNAMA
