IN his Labour Day address, Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin announced something that has stirred mixed emotions among the public.
Just close to a week before the end of the fourth phase of the movement control order (MCO) on May 12, the government decided to relax restrictions on most economic sectors from May 4 with stringent standard operating procedures (SOPs).
It is now called conditional movement control order (CMCO).
However, businesses where crowds gather and body contact is likely such as at cinemas, karaoke centres, bazaars and big sports events at stadiums are still not permitted.
This was the opposite of expectations that the MCO would be lifted on May 12 or it would be gradually eased in stages.
Many are worried that the efforts put in by the frontliners to mitigate the Covid-19 outbreak would go to waste should the decision backfire.
On the other hand, the prime minister’s calculation is based on the country losing RM2.4 billion daily during the MCO period and that the estimated total loss is around RM63 billion.
If the MCO gets extended for another month, the loss would be RM98 billion.
He also mapped out the government’s plan, known as the 6Rs:
» Resolve – Contain Covid-19;
» Resilience – Through the introduction of the Prihatin stimulus packages;
» Restart – Opening up of the economy on a controlled basis;
» Recovery – Short-term to medium-term plan;
» Revitalise – Opening up of the economy holistically; and
» Reform – Restructure economy to promote growth in the “new norm”.
According to the prime minister, as the country has managed to pull off the first and second phase, we are headed to the third phase – to restart.
Asked if the decision to relax the restrictions was made in a rush, Finance Minister Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz said that it was based on studies, collection of data and was in line with the SOPs.
Director-general of health Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah echoed this by noting that the relaxation is a collective decision given that Malaysia is in recovery phase and has managed to flatten the curve through the first three phases of MCO. So, it is time to “strike a balance between life and livelihood”.
Many lives have been severely impacted by the imposition of the MCO, be it financially or mentally.
Nonetheless, as something to watch out for, he added if there is an outbreak in any locality, public health action would be taken and the locality would be put under an enhanced MCO, or if the SOPs are not adhered to, business premises will be closed down.
Government is being flexible in implementing the CMCO. Companies and even states can decide whether to start resuming operations on May 4 or later, as some would possibly need time to make necessary preparations.
As we embark onto the next phase to revive the economy, cooperation from each individual plays a major role besides proper execution by the authorities.
There is a critical need for each of us to not be complacent and be socially responsible to ensure infections are contained.
The most important thing is for businesses to strictly impose the SOPs on the employees as well as customers.
For instance, restaurants that normally have plenty of customers should ensure adequate physical distancing between tables and in queues, provision of adequate hand sanitisers and soap, provision of face masks to employees especially those at the frontline, regular table cleaning, body temperature checks and to have records of customers’ details should there be a need for contact tracing.
Commuters using public transport are also at risk. Transport operator Prasarana Malaysia Berhad has announced several measures in line with the CMCO. This includes increased train frequency to support social distancing in which peak travel hours would be extended from 7am to 11am for the morning schedule while in the evening, it is from 4pm to 7pm.
Additional staff would also be on duty to ensure commuters follow all rules.
For other types of business, new business models would have to be adopted. Working from home would be the best alternative, and is highly recommended by the government. On the bright side, most people would already be familiar with this by now in view of the MCO that has been in place for more than a month.
These measures might appear challenging to be executed but this is the new reality. So long as the cure is absent, uncertainty remains which requires everyone to adapt to the new norm and not go back to pre-Covid routines.
As countries move to lift lockdowns or restrictions, we need to learn from those that have pursued it earlier and what happened when measures are not adequately implemented.
In Japan, people in Hokkaido learned their lesson by lifting the first state of emergency too early on March 19 after the number of daily cases fell to single digit and started to scale down large-scale testing to prevent overwhelming patients in the hospitals due to insufficient medical equipment and workforce. As a result, they were struck by a harder second wave of infections that resulted in a second lockdown.
We have not won the war yet. Testing is still ongoing as the health authorities are trying to bring up the daily testing capacity and the number of cases would continue to go up as long as all Malaysians are not tested.
So, each person has to observe his or her social responsibility to help the frontliners who have sacrificed their time and lives.
We would not want to see more people losing jobs or being laid off and bankruptcies increasing because any surge in infection numbers resulting from our ignorance could lead to the CMCO to be rescinded.
As the trending hashtag goes, we need to live by #KitajagaKita (We take care of Ourselves).
Nur Sofea Hasmira Azahar is a research analyst at EMIR Research.
