KUALA LUMPUR (May 29): The Malaysian Employers Federation (MEF) said the full lockdown announced by the government is a “necessary bitter pill to swallow” as it is required in order to curb the alarming uptrend in the daily recorded number of new Covid-19 cases.

This followed the Ministry of Health (MoH)’s announcement yesterday that the number of daily new infections reached a record 8,290.

In a statement today, MEF president Datuk Dr Syed Hussain Husman said the lockdown would be very difficult for most employers, especially micro enterprises, which are usually not within the essential economic and service sectors category, adding that the lack of revenue during the lockdown would make it extremely challenging for these businesses.

“Earlier, the Minister of Finance (MoF) warned that as many as 2.8 million people would lose their income and as many as 40% of SMEs (small and medium enterprises) will be shuttered for good in the event of a full lockdown.

“With losses expected at about RM2.4 billion per day similar to that during the MCO 1.0 (first movement control order), the government must introduce more stimulus packages, including wage subsidies and financial assistance to businesses and individuals to sustain themselves during this challenging period,” he said.

Syed Hussain added that an automatic loan moratorium must be reintroduced, so that such businesses and individuals would be able to get through this challenging period and continue operating in the future.

Meanwhile, he hopes that there would be no confusion over which economic sectors are allowed to operate during the MCO as well as the details, such as the number of employees allowed to be present at the workplace during the full lockdown.

“This time, employers and the public are given clearer and transparent instructions for the government’s immediate plans to control the spread of Covid-19,” he said.

“The targeted timelines for all the three phases of the lockdown, which would gradually relax the rules for most economic sectors to operate with strict travel restrictions, could only be achieved if the number of infections is reduced,” he said.

There is a need to intensify and speed up the nationwide vaccination, said Syed Hussain, and that border control must be tightened to avoid the migration of Covid-19 variants into the country.

Moreover, he said it is the collective responsibility of everyone in order to overcome the pandemic, noting that some have been taking the matter lightly, adding that the rakyat must also be accountable for their actions.

“There is no point talking about giving choices of vaccines to the rakyat as this does not help solve the problem. What is needed is fast execution of our role in utilising all our resources in government and in the private sector to achieve herd immunity.

“We cannot fight Covid-19 if we are on opposite sides and not working as a team. With mass vaccination and self-regulation, we will overcome this,” he said.