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KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia announced on Tuesday (February 2) that it will extend the Movement Control Order (MCO) for all states and federal territories, with the exception of Sarawak, from February 5 to February 18.
Last month, every state in the country except Sarawak was placed under the MCO from January 22 to February 4 to slow the spread of COVID-19.
Making the announcement in a televised address, Chief Minister Ismail Sabri said: “The Health Ministry confirmed that daily cases in all of these states still show an upward trend, with a positivity rate in the 20 to 20 age groups. 40 percent”.
“In addition to that, the sporadic spread within the community is also high, involving both citizens and non-citizens.”
“Therefore, taking into account the risk assessment and advice from the Ministry of Health, today’s special meeting has decided to extend the MCO 2.0 throughout the country from February 5 to 18, except for Sarawak, which will continue under order of conditional motion control “.
When Malaysia first joined the MCO in March last year, almost all economic activities ceased, except for essential services, such as food and beverage outlets and pharmacies.
The lockdown caused the country to reduce its COVID-19 cases to single digits in the first half of 2020. MCO was replaced by CMCO and the Recovery Movement Control Order (RMCO), while localized restrictions were introduced in areas with an increase in cases.
Instead, this current MCO, called “MCO 2.0”, has allowed more economic sectors to continue operating, such as the automotive and retailers such as gold and jewelry stores.
Finance Minister Tengku Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz told CNA in an interview that the country cannot afford another total lockdown as it will be “very damaging” to the economy.
Since “MCO 2.0” was implemented in January, Malaysia has continued to fight a sharp increase in infections and has consistently reported daily four-digit increases in COVID-19 cases.
As of Monday, Malaysia reported a total of 219,173 COVID-19 cases, of which 48,074 are considered active or infectious.
On Sunday, the director general of the Ministry of Health, Noor Hisham Abdullah, said that the sharp increase in the number of daily cases, which exceeded 5,000 for three consecutive days, was due to the late notification of cases to the authorities.
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