By Syaiful Afiq Ahamidi
PUTRAJAYA, April 21 (NNN-BERNAMA) — “On the occasion of my birthday (today), the most special gift for me will be if Malaysians continued staying home and observe high hygiene standards,” said Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah with a smile.
Malaysia’s director-general of Health, who has been the focus of media and Malaysians since the COVID-19 outbreak, who turned 57 today, made the special request on Monday in a recorded message to Bernama on Monday.
Born in Sepang, Selangor, Dr Noor Hisham appears daily on television to provide the much-awaited news and development on COVID-19 and has become an endearing figure to the Malaysian public.
On the eve of his birthday, Dr Noor Hisham brought good news on the COVID-19 outbreak saying that the number of new positive cases recorded in Malaysia on Monday was the lowest since March 12 with 36 cases and no deaths reported.
Speaking to Bernama, he urged all Malaysians to stay at home in compliance with the Movement Control Order (MCO)’s move to break the COVID-19 infection chain that has claimed hundreds of thousands of lives worldwide.
Recently listed along with two other doctors as among the world’s best in approaching the Covid-19 pandemic, Dr Noor Hisham, described his birthday request as one of his most important birthday gifts.
The two other doctors, who are listed on the China Global TV Network (CGTN), are United States’ infectious disease expert Dr Anthony Fauci and New Zealand’s director-general of health Ashley Bloomfield.
CGTN commended Dr Noor Hisham for his straightforward and calm approach in handling the COVID-19 outbreak in Malaysia.
Before the virus outbreak, not many people knew Dr Noor Hisham and the other two doctors but they have now become the most ‘trusted’ source of information for the pandemic in their respective countries.
Dr Noor Hisham, who is also a surgeon, holds a Master’s Degree in Surgery and a Doctorate of Medicine from Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM).
— NNN-BERNAMA