Most of us are longing to head back to our kampung, and whenever a question on the matter is directed to the minister, the standard answer is "it depends on the risk assessment made by the Ministry of Health".

But how does MOH assess the risk?

There are six factors that they look at.

"What is risk assessment? In summary, it is how we look at the current infection situation and the probability of transmission becoming more severe or vice versa," said the ministry via a Facebook post recently.

Indicative factors

In the post, the ministry explained that there were six indicative factors when it comes to risk assessment. They are:

1. The number of daily cases, including those that have been cured and allowed to return home.

2. The trend and rate of infection.

3. The current death rate and the number of deaths.

4. The capacity of Intensive Care Unit (ICU) beds and wards in hospitals.

5. The current situation of infected healthcare workers.

6. Screening tests conducted in the field, screening for diseases such as influenza, severe acute respiratory infections and preoperative sampling as well as ward admissions.

"KKM will study all the data and look at the facts before providing advice to the Technical Committee and the National Security Council," explained MOH in the post.

They said that risk assessment is done from time to time and currently, it showed that new COVID-19 cases are on the decline, although not consistently.

They added that if all SOP are adhered to strictly, people would even be able to return home to their kampung for the coming Aidilfitri which falls in May.

"We have to strive and pray and surrender it to God," the ministry concluded.

So everyone, you know what you have to do.