Yesterday, the Malaysian Senior Minister for Defence, Ismail Sabri Yaakob, finally announced what everyone in Malaysia has been dreading and expecting for the past two weeks… an extension.
Hooray for being able to predict the future, I guess?
To be honest, we’ve all could see this coming from a mile –*ahem* I mean approximately 1.60934km- away… come on now, we’re all civilized, metric-system-using folks here.
Especially when the number of daily cases is still in the thousands – though, it seems like 5,000 is the number to beat here.
What do you need to know
Since the next 2 weeks (until 28 Jun) is just an extension of MCO 3.0, this means that everything Malaysians were enduring for the past 2 weeks… well, they just have to bear with it for another 2 more weeks…
…and maybe another two more, and another, and so on and so forth… you get the drift… until the daily number of positive cases dropped to a more manageable number.
As the minister puts it, “The positive/negative list (permitted and prohibited activities) and standard operating procedures (SOPs) for every manufacturing, business and industrial activity still remains as announced before this.”
This means only essential businesses and sectors are allowed, while cross-district and interstate travel are prohibited.
Classes are moved to online learning yet again. Social and sports activities were forbidden as well.
The lockdown seems to be working
The total lockdown which started on 1 Jun seems to be doing its magic, though not as quickly as many might hope.
The daily positive cases hit the 9,000s prior to the lockdown and since then, that number has dropped by at least a third.
The Malaysian government, and its people, are hoping that the MCO 3.0 extension would finally bring the number down further and flatten the curve of the third COVID-19 wave.
As of yesterday, the number of new confirmed cases is 6,849, bringing the total number of active cases to 78,864, and the total number of confirmed cases to 646,411.
84 people died due to COVID-19 yesterday in Malaysia.
The total number of deaths is currently at 3,768.
What’s next?
Similar to other MCOs before it, once the daily infections drop to a more manageable number, Malaysia will then enter a 4-week-long second phase.
This second phase will allow more economic sectors to gradually reopen.
It will then be followed by a third phase where almost all economic sectors are allowed to operate as long as they follow the strict SOP imposed.
However, taking into account previous varying types of MCOs, it’s highly unlikely that Malaysians can travel back to their home towns to see their loved ones unless it’s an emergency, any time soon.
Now, while lockdowns are useful, wearing masks is just as useful. Watch this video to the end and you’d understand:
Featured Image: Patrick Foto / Shutterstock.com