The Malaysian Insight

ANY announcement on a second movement-control order (MCO) will be made by the prime minister on Monday, senior minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob said today.

He said Putrajaya acknowledges the speculation on social media that another lockdown will be implemented following director-general of health Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah’s remarks on January 6 on the need for a “circuit breaker” as Malaysia sees a surge in Covid-19 infections.

“You are expecting me to announce tighter restrictions today but any such announcement will be made by the prime minister on Monday.

“We understand that some want tighter restrictions, some want it to be loosened such as businesses who are concerned that they will be affected,” Ismail Sabri said during today’s briefing on Covid-19 movement restrictions.

The defence minister said a technical meeting will be held on Monday prior to the prime minister’s announcement.

The National Security Council has also been discussing stricter measures since last week, he added.

He added that the reports from the Health Ministry and also from the International Trade and Industry Ministry on stricter SOPs are still being scrutinised before a final decision can be made.

“We are not yet ready to announce anything because we do not want to create any impact on the people as some are wanting stricter SOPs while others don’t.”

Asked about predictions that daily cases may rise to 8,000 by the fourth week of May, as released in a chart by Noor Hisham on Twitter, Ismail Sabri said the government is aware of it and agreed that “something” has to be done.

The first MCO involving the harshest lockdown measures was imposed for two months from mid-March last year soon after the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic in Malaysia.

The curve of infections was flattened for a while and restrictions loosened until an uptick in early September in Sabah, worsened by the state elections later that month.

Since mid-November, Malaysia has been recording new infections in the 1,000s almost daily, rising to a record high of 3,027 new cases yesterday.

The country’s cumulative number of cases as of yesterday is 128,465, of which 102,723 have recovered, while the death toll is at 513. – January 8, 2021.