On 12 May 2021, Malaysia entered its third Movement Control Order (MCO).
While many expected residents to kick up a fuss about the lack of freedom to move around – as is observed everywhere else – some Malaysians complained that the lockdown wasn’t strict enough, with some even calling it “half-baked”.
There’s a reason for this, of course.
See, unlike the first lockdown, businesses are still allowed to operate under MCO 3.0, a decision the authorities took after the devastating economic impact of the first MCO.
“I don’t want Malaysians to die of the coronavirus, I also don’t want Malaysians to die of starvation, so this is how we arrived at MCO 3.0,” Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin said.
But the authorities may soon be forced to tighten restrictions even further, as cases are rising at an alarming rate.
M’sia Health Director-General Warns That They Should ‘Prepare for the Worst’
They’re so bad, in fact, that Malaysia’s Health director-general Noor Hisham Abdullah said the nation needs to “prepare for the worst”.
“The rise in cases started from April 1 and could trigger a vertical surge. We need to prepare for the worst. Please help us by staying at home. Only together, we can break the chain of infection,” he said on Twitter.
Dr Noor Hisham’s tweet was accompanied by a graph which showed the exponential growth of COVID-19 cases in Malaysia recently.
While new infections started to dwindle from February to March this year, numbers started shooting up in the last two months.
And the outbreak has shown no signs of abating.
New cases have stayed above 6,000 for seven straight days, and the health ministry has warned that this number could rise to 8,000 if people do not adhere to the lockdown restrictions.
Yesterday (25 May), the country recorded its highest single-day tally since the pandemic began, with 7,289 new infections.
Some Hospitals Running Low on ICU Beds
As we’ve already seen in India, a rampant coronavirus outbreak can overwhelm healthcare systems, leading to patients dying because there are not enough intensive care beds or ventilators to treat them.
In Malaysia, the escalating outbreak has left some hospitals running low on beds in intensive care units.
Hospitals in Penang and the Klang Valley area in particular, are struggling to deal with the number of new COVID-19 patients, as their COVID-19 ICU beds are running at full capacity.
“We have to stay safe and it’s safest to stay home and follow the SOPs,” Prime Minister Muhyiddin said in a television interview on Sunday.
Government Forced to Impose Tighter Measures
While the government was hesitant to impose a lockdown as strict as the first MCO, the surge in infections forced them to tighten COVID-19 measures recently.
Over the weekend, the authorities announced that malls, restaurants, and shops will be required to shorten their operating hours from 25 May.
They also urged 80% of civil servants—around 750,000 people—to start working from home, while the private sector has been advised to allow 40% of its staff to do the same.
Besides that, all social activities are banned and inter-district and inter-state travel will only be permitted for emergencies, work, medical appointments, visiting of spouses, and for vaccination appointments.
At the time of writing, Malaysia has a total of 525,889 COVID-19 infections, around 63,000 of whom are active cases. 2,369 people have died from the disease so far.
Featured Image: Farrel Arissa / Shutterstock.com