CORONAVIRUS | With four days to go before Hari Raya Aidilfitri, Health Ministry director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah has advised celebrants to forego the customary hand greetings and house visits.

He was especially concerned about visits from those living in areas with a high number of Covid-19 cases (red zones) to virus-free areas (green zones).

“If those who are (Covid-19) positive come to the house and salam with us, we might get infected. Therefore, if possible, please refrain from salam, observe social distancing and wash your hands regularly [...]

“It would be better if we can refrain from visiting each other and refrain from returning to our hometowns if we have to travel from red zones to green zones, if possible,” he said when asked for his Hari Raya advice during his daily press briefing this evening.

“With infections in red zones, we won’t know if we are infected or not. When we return to our hometown and should we be asymptomatic, there is a big chance we could infect our family members in our kampung,” he elaborated.

Noor Hisham reiterated his previous advice for a “closed doors” Hari Raya with just immediate family members.

Earlier, he confirmed that a patient had tested positive for the virus after travelling interstate from Ampang, a red zone, to her hometown in Kelantan, a green zone, to give birth.

The source of infection remains under investigation.

Under the conditional movement control order, the public is not permitted to travel interstate during the Hari Raya period though interdistrict travel is allowed.

The government’s guideline states that house visits are restricted to the first day of Hari Raya (May 24) and each house is limited to 20 guests for the entire day.

Noor Hisham previously urged tailoring the 20-guest limit to the size of one’s house based on whether social distancing was possible.