KUALA LUMPUR (April 29): The country’s flattening Covid-19 infection curve in the past two weeks has raised expectations that the government would further relax the movement control order (MCO) rules in a gradual manner.
Furthermore, yesterday’s announcement on industries that operate during the MCO are allowed to go full capacity shows that the government could be unveiling more steps on its exit strategy after more than 40 days of nationwide partial lockdown to contain the Covid-19 outbreak.
The Ministry of International Trade and Industry yesterday announced that businesses that are allowed to undergo restricted operations during MCO can operate with full workforce and without limitation on operating hours in the fourth phase of MCO beginning today (April 29).
While there are differing views on the extent of business operations and public mobility, the gradual relaxation is seen as a step forward to re-start the engine of the Malaysian economy.
Each day of MCO, which until yesterday allowed only essential services and certain key segments to operate, causes an estimated RM2.4 billion in losses to the Malaysian economy, Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said in an interview on April 25.
Malaysia, which has extended its two-week MCO for the fourth time, enters its 43rd day of partial lockdown today; with another 12 days to go, it is scheduled to be lifted on May 12.
At the time of writing, businesses that are allowed to operate include essential services, manufacturers of critical products and the non-essential sectors as underlined here: https://www.theedgemarkets.com/article/businesses-allowed-operate-during-mco-go-full-capacity-tomorrow
Currently, there are 14 essential services allowed to operate out of the 22 items in the initial list during the first phase of the MCO.
The Ministry of Health (MoH), according to health director-general Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah, has prepared Covid-19 mitigation guidelines for all economic sectors when they reopen once the MCO is relaxed.
“In terms of all economic sectors we already have the SOPs (standard operating procedures) in place. So the only thing is that we are opening in phases,” Dr Noor Hisham reportedly said at the daily Covid-19 press conference yesterday.
In a separate press conference yesterday, Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob said the government will finalise the SOPs for the public in green zone areas (areas with zero active Covid-19 cases) by next week.
The catch is that the permitted businesses will have to follow the strict SOPs set up by the MoH and the relevant ministries and agencies to minimise the risk of a new outbreak.
However, it is not far fetched to say there may be certain businesses that may not operate as usual, considering the risks involved.
For example, hotels, and food and beverages (F&B) are considered essential services. However, the hotels association has stated that it is not yet allowed to operate normally as per the Ministry of Tourism’s instructions.
Meanwhile, Ismail Sabri stated that for now, restaurants and food outlets must still adhere to the existing MCO operating hours from 8am to 8pm.
As of noon yesterday, Malaysia recorded 5,851 confirmed Covid-19 infections — meaning it has achieved the MoH’s initial target of under 6,000 confirmed cases by the middle of April.
Some 4,032 patients have been discharged, representing 68.9% of the total, while 100 patients or 1.7% have succumbed to the disease, leaving 1,719 active cases (29.4%).
Chart-wise, the curve of total cases have been flattening, as daily new infections have stayed below 100 for 12 consecutive days. Meanwhile, daily recoveries have topped daily new infections for almost two weeks now.
Moreover, the number of active cases has reduced from its peak of 2,596 patients on April 5 to 1,719 cases yesterday.
As of noon today, Malaysia has 85 green zones as opposed to 61 yellow zones (1 to 40 active cases) and 12 red zones (41 cases and above). The red zones remain concentrated in Kuala Lumpur, Selangor and Johor.
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