THE meeting between the EU-Malaysia Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Eurocham Malaysia) and the International Trade and Industry Ministry (Miti) recently did not discuss the possibility of a total lockdown, said one of its participants.

Speaking anonymously, the man told The Malaysian Insight that the meeting was about bringing down the infection Covid-19 rate especially in the manufacturing sector.

“As the number of clusters in the manufacturing sector is on the rise, we were requested to play a stricter role than before and that also we must do it before February 4.”

“It was observed that the Health Ministry may resort to advising the government for a lockdown if the figures continue to be on rise. There was no mention by Miti that the government is planning or has decided on a lockdown. This was my understanding and takeaway from the meeting,” the participant said.

Earlier today, various news reports stated that Putrajaya is considering shutting down all economic sectors should the Covid-19 infection rate fail to show a drop after February 4.

“Should the infection rate not decrease, the Malaysian government will announce a shutdown/strict lockdown immediately after February 4, 2021. This is the current situation we are facing and International Trade and Industry Ministry (Miti), is appealing to all companies, foreign and local, to join the effort of reducing infections breaking the chain, to keep the economy open for business,” Eurocham Malaysia said in a letter sighted by The Malaysian Insight this morning.

The letter provided a detailed account of Eurocham Malaysia chief executive Sven Schneider’s meeting with Miti officials on January 22.

It was also mentioned that MOH “has made a clear stand on the matter of a complete shutdown of the economy”.

The man then said that the meeting was much more of an urgent appeal to businesses and companies that this was an urgent situation and the rising number of Covid-19 cases in the manufacturing sector needed to be addressed.

“The discussion centred around actions and suggestions of what was needed by industry to help mitigate the issue as soon as possible.”

“MITI identified that from their own limited observations that the most problematic areas were in the community and focused around housing and housing areas. We requested amongst other things, to be given greater granularity on the data so that we could better understand the flash-points so that appropriate measures can be taken,” he added.

A high number of Covid-19 clusters are linked to workplaces. Eight of the 11 new clusters reported yesterday were connected to the office, factory or worksite.

The country also logged a record 4,275 new cases, taking the caseload to 180,455 and active cases to 42,769. 

Yesterday director-general of health Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said the increasing number of workplace-related Covid-19 clusters is worrying.

Most of them are in factories, followed by construction sites, he said.

As of Friday, there were 350 new clusters, 225 or 64.3% of which were linked to the workplace.  – January 24, 2021.