Former Health Ministry deputy director-general Dr Christopher Lee said the government should rethink various aspects of allowing Ramadan bazaars to operate amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
This includes the standard operating procedures, the monitoring and enforcement and the need to hold the bazaars in the first place.
“With our current case numbers, new clusters, high sporadic cases plus detection of the B.1.351 variant, our current bazaars could lead to a major surge,” the infectious disease specialist said on Twitter today.
Defence Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob had announced on March 16 that Ramadan bazaars would be allowed for this year subject to compliance with SOPs. The month-long fasting by Muslims begun on Tuesday.
However, almost as soon as the bazaars reopened after a year’s hiatus due to the Covid-19 pandemic, photos showing crowded bazaars began circulating online.
In response, the government has stepped up enforcement by authorising mayors, presidents of local councils and Grade 19 enforcement officers to issue compounds for SOP violations.
The Kelantan government cancelled Ramadan bazaars altogether two days before the markets opened despite a green light from Putrajaya and offered traders a RM1.5 million aid package instead of about RM600 per trader.
The move comes as Malaysia’s progress in battling a third wave of Covid-19 infections begins to reverse with case numbers climbing again.
The disease’s effective reproduction number (Rt) in the country reached 1.00 on March 25 and exceeded it for the first time since Feb 3 on April 3. The number is a measure of a disease’s infectivity and indicates that the outbreak is beginning to grow exponentially.
As of yesterday, the figure has climbed to 1.14 while case numbers exceeded the Health Ministry’s forecasts. Today, more than 2,000 new Covid-19 cases have been reported for the first time in more than a month.
Mobile phone location tracking data, meanwhile, showed that people are venturing from home at nearly pre-pandemic levels despite the deteriorating situation – more so even compared to the middle of last year where Malaysia reported no local Covid-19 cases. - Mkini
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