Despite a Sharp Spike in COVID-19 Cases, M’sia isn’t Going to Go Through Another Lockdown

If you’ve been keeping up with the news, you may know that Malaysia previously imposed a Movement Control Order (MCO) on 18 March.

This was in response to the rising number of COVID-19 cases.

They then had a follow-up, the Recovery Movement Control Order (RMCO) from 10 June 2020 to 31 August 2020.

It was the recently extended till the end of the year, 31 December 2020.

Recently, however, there has been a new development regarding lockdowns in Malaysia.

Or I should say, no new development.

Would Not Have Another One

Malaysian Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin said yesterday that the government has not considered enforcing a nationwide lockdown again.

This comes despite the recent spike of cases in Malaysia.

On Tuesday, Malaysia reported 691 new cases, bringing the total so far to 13,504.

Here’s the graph that you hope it won’t happen in Singapore:

PM Muhyiddin said, “For now we are not thinking of a total lockdown because if it is carried out one more time, it can leave a large impact that we’re afraid would crash the social and economic system in the country.”

He mentioned that the Malaysian economy loses approximately RM2.4 billion (S$785.770) daily when the MCO was enforced.

Currently, almost all work sectors in Malaysia have resumed operations.

The prime minister also said that the economic recovery is going well.

Instead of a full-scale MCO, he said authorities would instead enforce targeted enhanced MCO (TEMCO) in areas with a high number of cases.

Schools and interstate travels will be done following a discussion by the National Security Council.

They will also be making a proposal to restrict events and gatherings such as conferences and wedding banquets.

Spikes In Two States

The aforementioned spike comes from two states: Kedah and Sabah.

On 5 October, around 231 new cases were detected in Kedah and 130 in Sabah.

A majority of Kedah’s cases came from a cluster centred on the Alor Setar prison.

For the latter, Mr Muhyiddin admitted that state’s election was among the contributing factors of the surge in the Borneo state.

However, he also mentioned that social distancing was not maintained and some SOPs were “not adhered to.”

He also stressed that punishment will be dealt to the offenders, regardless of title or status.

In fact, Mr Muhyiddin himself is also under a 14-day quarantine after a minister who attended a meeting he chaired over the weekend tested positive for COVID-19.

“As the prime minister, I am not exempted from this SOP. This is the second time I am undergoing quarantine at home since the COVID-19 pandemic hit the country. I must follow the rules.

“However, this will not affect government affairs. I will continue to work from home and have video calls for meetings that have to be chaired by me.”

He adds that all ministers and deputy ministers are not exempt from this either.

Moral of the story?

Stay sharp because we all thought we can have BKT up north soon. Reality then told us it’s still 2020, the year when all the bad things will happen.

A boyfriend appears to break up with his girlfriend after she has a scar on her face. But it turns out to be something else—watch their story to the end because it’s definitely related to you, whoever you are: