MALAYSIANS are bracing for the possibility that the movement control order (MCO) will be extended beyond its March 31 deadline as the partial lockdown passes the one-week mark.

The MCO, which came into force on March 18, was to break the chain of infections of the highly contagious bug by stopping Malaysians from coming into contact with each other.

Yet, despite the MCO, Covid-19 cases do not appear to be slowing.

Instead, they rose by more than 100% from 790 cases on March 18 to 1,624 as of yesterday.

During this period, 15 deaths attributed to the coronavirus were reported.

The rate of infections in the next seven days will influence whether the MCO will be extended.

When Malaysia imposed the MCO on March 18, it was one of only a handful of countries to do so after China.

Today, more than 1 billion people in several countries are under some form of lockdown as Covid-19 infected more than 380,000 people worldwide.

Over the past seven days, the MCO has ravaged the country’s economy, while the healthcare system struggles to treat new cases of Covid-19, which are increasing in triple digits every day.

Even as the army has been brought in to help police enforce the MCO, Malaysians appear to be casually breaking quarantine for the most trivial reasons such as “going to visit friends” or travelling more than 10km to “to eat my favourite dish”.

Below is a recap of some of the highlights of the past few weeks, some of which will point to why the MCO will be extended beyond March 31.

Confusion and clampdown

The first few hours before and after midnight on March 18 were marred by confusion about what exactly were Putrajaya’s orders.

People were told to quarantine themselves at home but many crowded bus and train terminals, and highways to make a last-minute trip to their hometowns for the two-week ‘break’.

Then police ordered everyone who wanted to travel between states to fill in forms at the nearest police station but were forced to cancel the directive when the stations were mobbed by prospective travellers.

University students were first told to vacate their campuses but this order was revoked and they were given the option to stay put.

Hours later, another order was issued saying they had to stay in their dorms, even if they had bought tickets to return to their hometowns.

This led to Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin taking to the airwaves in a second televised broadcast to explain in detail what Putrajaya meant when he said Malaysians should just “stay at home”.

To further drive home the point, the army was brought in on March 22 to help police set up more roadblocks and conduct more patrols to enforce the MCO.

As a result, the percentage of Malaysians complying with the MCO went from 60% on March 22 to almost 90% as of yesterday.

Economic fallout

Small-time businesses have seen their incomes disappear and workers fear they won’t get their wages at the end of the month as most businesses have closed.

Only an approved list of essential services, such as water, electricity, food, banking, are allowed to operate during the MCO.

Retailers have taken a hit to their revenues despite panic-buying in the two days before the MCO was announced when store shelves were emptied of toilet paper, hand sanitisers, and canned and dry food.

Trade groups and the administration have had to assure the public that there was enough food for the country in order to stem more panic-buying.

To help workers, Putrajaya announced that anyone aged below 55 will be allowed to dip into their Employees Provident Fund (EPF) retirement savings for the next 12 months.

States such as Sarawak and Selangor have announced individual economic stimulus packages for their residents, while Putrajaya is planning for a second such scheme.

Infections continue to rise

However, despite having to endure all this economic pain, the numbers of those testing positive for Covid-19 continued to rise to 1,624 as of yesterday.

The increase began even before the MCO was started and was due in large part to a gathering of a tabligh Muslim missionary group in Kuala Lumpur from February 27 to March 1.

It was reported that 16,000 attendees from Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Brunei and Cambodia had come into contact with a Brunei Covid-19 case at the gathering.

As of March 23, 940 or more than 60% of the country’s total Covid-19 infections came from what is now termed the “tabligh cluster”, according to the National Security Council (NSC).

The latest death, a 71-year-old man from Malacca came into contact with another person who had been infected from the cluster.

The NSC said that 10 of the 15 deaths so far in Malaysia are related to the cluster.

The Ministry of Health is currently carrying out “active case detection” on tabligh attendees who have yet to come and get tested for the virus, thus strengthening speculation that the MCO will be extended.

This includes refugees who had attended the tabligh event but have been reluctant to come forward due to fears of being arrested. – March 25, 2020.