This article first appeared in The Edge Malaysia Weekly on August 9, 2021 - August 15, 2021

In a bit of positive news last Thursday, Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said he would announce in the next few days a relaxation of standard operating procedures for those who are fully vaccinated.

That only the number of new Covid-19 cases with serious symptoms (and not all new cases) will be used as the new indicator for transition into higher phases in the National Recovery Plan (NRP) is also welcomed, with more than one third of the adult population already given two doses.

Malaysia needs more good news to shore up hope that reopening is within reach so that consumer and business confidence can return to help the economy make a strong recovery.

While policymakers should constantly check data for room to allow more sectors to reopen and activities to resume, Malaysians would do good to remember that caution and common sense still need to prevail as we are surely not out of the woods yet, given the more transmissible Delta variant. Countries that opened up early, like China and the UK, have taught us that. Additionally, having little to no symptoms now does not necessarily mean no health impact further down the road. Even those who have been fully vaccinated in developed countries are again being asked to mask up — a lesson we do not need to learn the hard way.

And now that Malaysia has rightfully finalised the guidelines for undocumented migrants and refugees to also be vaccinated, there should not be any delay in carrying out the exercise given that we are all only safe when everyone is safe.

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