Extension of MCO Period Crucial to Break the Chain of Covid-19 Transmission

Tan Sri Lee Lam Thye

The extension of MCO for two weeks from today puts a damper on Chinese New Year celebrations but nobody will deny that it was necessary.

Given the high number of Covid-19 infections, there was no other options open to the authorities.

Except for several districts in Sarawak which are exempted, the next phase will affect the entire nation.

One of the reasons for this imposition is the fear that the healthcare system could collapse if the number of daily infections do not come down significantly.

It has been reported that the specific enhanced SOPs for the Lunar New Year period will be announced shortly.

Senior Minister Ismail Sabri has hinted that one of the new measures could be restricting the number of customers in supermarkets.

But we do not have to wait for the new measures to be announced before deciding what each one of us should, and can do to prevent the disease from spreading.

It is indeed a matter of much concern that there are still a significant number of cases of people not wearing masks in public places.  It is time to empower the community to act.  

But if there are people who continue to flout  the rules could the authorities set  up a Hotline for the public to call and inform the authorities of people violating the SOPs?

The authorities must think outside the box to find novel ways of using  the carrot and stick approach to ensure greater compliance.

They must do more than announcing daily the number of infections and deaths.  We must go beyond that to provide useful and relevant information and statistics which could point to new ways of handling the crisis.

Many other countries have already shown much success in their war against Covid-19.  It is time and it is imperative that we are not left behind.

All our lives and livelihoods depend on it.