Covid-19: Full MCO or self-lockdown?

 

Would you voluntarily undergo a lockdown on your own?

With daily Covid-19 cases exceeding 6,000, maybe it is time for Malaysians to take the initiative to care for their own health and safety, along with their families, and not rely on the government to curb the spread of the virus.

With each day, the data shows a drastic rise in cases, together with new variants that are not fully understood by experts. To top it off, Malaysia registered a new record high in daily cases today with 6,806.

Public health expert Dr Azimatun Noor Aizuddin said imposing a lockdown on your own, or a self-lockdown, is among the best choices to balance the health of Malaysians with negative economic impact.

The Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia senior medical lecturer said everyone is aware of the risks should the government implement a stricter Movement Control Order (MCO), especially its adverse effect on the economic sector.

“Everyone has an important role to play to ensure victory over the Covid-19 pandemic.

“The government as the country’s leadership must consider both positives and negatives of every action taken, while Malaysians can play their part to ensure the best for themselves, their families, and the country,” he said when contacted by Bernama today.

The phrase "Road to 10k" has been trending on Twitter recently, a reference to 10,000 daily cases, and can be viewed as a form of public disappointment over the recent development of the pandemic in the country.

Elaborating, Azimatun said the current Covid-19 standard operating procedure (SOP) can be improved according to the current situation.

“The virus is very dangerous and the SOP set needs to be backed up with laws as there are those who take this matter lightly,” he added.

Meanwhile, the Health Ministry tweeted today encouraging the public to practise self lockdown to break the Covid-19 infection chain.

Their suggestions include grocery shopping once a week, filling a full tank of petrol, and conducting prayers with family at home.

In addition, the ministry suggested buying things online and not entertaining guests at home.

Small and Medium Enterprises Association Malaysia (Samenta) Central chairperson William Ng cautioned that a full lockdown would render thousands of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) insolvent, which would increase unemployment.

“The damage to our economy would be irreversible, especially at a time when we are preparing for a recovery as the national vaccination roll-out continues.

“We stand in solidarity with other trade associations such as the Federation of Malaysian Manufacturers (FMM), American Malaysian Chamber of Commerce (Amcham) and Eurocham in opposing a full lockdown,” he said.

Center for Market Education chief executive officer Carmelo Ferlito said a full lockdown may stop the virus from spreading and it might make sense to sacrifice for the greater good.

“But, unfortunately, it has been demonstrated by tens of scientific papers that lockdowns do not work, they just delay the problem, at the very best. No western country has defeated Covid-19 with lockdowns. They tried and failed,” he said.

Meanwhile, former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad said the government needed to be strict and introduce a full lockdown to achieve success like the first MCO in March last year.

“We need to confine people to their homes. There should not be any excuse for crowds to form. Staying apart must be applied even among the frontliners.

“Whatever may be the cause of the present flare-up of the pandemic, what must be accepted is that dealing with it, attempting to reduce the number of new cases, will cost a lot of money,” he said in a statement today.

Mahathir added that the vaccination programme must be sped up and the people have to accept whatever vaccine is used in other countries.

Ikatan Malaysia youth chief Shahrir Adnan concurred, saying any MCO needed to be strict as the first MCO managed to reduce Covid-19 cases drastically.

He added that Malaysians are tired of MCOs that go on without any real reduction of daily cases.

- Bernama