THE newly enforced movement-control order (MCO) must be paired with mass testing and widespread contact tracing to effectively combat the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic, said health experts.

They told The Malaysian Insight that the government would be left with no choice but to close down the economic sectors if MCO 3.0 is unable to bring down the infection level as expected.

Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin on Monday said that Malaysia would be under MCO 3.0 from today until June 7 due to the more critical and vicious third wave of Covid-19 infections.

The country yesterday recorded 3,973 new infections and 22 deaths. There are currently 38,499 active cases in need of treatment and monitoring.

Prof Dr Adeeba Kamarulzaman, who is a World Health Organisation (WHO) Science Council member, said the government needs do more mass testing and widespread contact tracing during MCO 3.0.

“We need to test as many people as we can, especially in red zone areas,” said the former Universiti Malaya medical faculty dean and professor of infectious diseases.

A similar call had also been made recently by the Health and Sciences Covid-19 Advisory Group of Experts (EAG), which had urged Putrajaya to implement a highly targeted MCO and to conduct surveillance through targeted testing.

The group also said Putrajaya must strengthen risk communication as well as boost vaccine rollout while combating vaccine hesitancy.

Under the MCO 3.0, inter-district and interstate travel, as well as social, religious, sports and education activities are restricted, while dine-ins in restaurants are not allowed.

The economic sectors, however, are allowed to operate under stricter standard operating procedure (SOP).

Dr Kuljit Singh from the Association of Private Hospitals Malaysia (APHM), meanwhile, said the latest MCO was not like the one implemented in March last year.

“It is good to make restrictions tighter, but of course we have to watch and see if crowds are reduced.

“The idea is to reduce crowds in order to ensure that the spread and the number of infections go down,” he said.

Kuljit said he understood why the government wanted the economic sectors to function as per normal but warned that a total lockdown would become necessary if infections continue to remain high.

“We don’t want the economy to suffer so the government is also looking at that side of things.

“If the Covid-19 numbers don’t come down, then you have to be stricter. In the worst case scenario, you will have to shut down the economy for a while, you have no choice,” said the APHM president.

Community transmission

Malaysian Medical Association president Dr Subramaniam Muniandy said the authorities need to urgently step up Covid-19 testing as there is high community transmission.

“The Health Ministry should maximise the technology available through Hotspots Identification for Dynamic Engagement (HIDE) and MySejahtera to identify hotspots that should be screened for Covid-19,” he said.

He also advised employers to ensure that SOP is enforced strictly as well as for employees to be screened regularly for Covid-19.

“All business owners must take charge and ensure that their staff fully comply with the SOP as there is no law enforcement by the authorities in the workplace.”

Subramaniam added that Covid-19 had spread into the community and therefore, anyone could be carrying the virus.

“It is best to get vaccinated for maximum protection. It should be noted that even young, healthy people are getting infected.”

A state-sponsored mass Covid-19 screening under the Skim Peduli Sihat programme in Selangor had shown that a majority of those between the ages of 20 and 40 who tested positive were asymptomatic.

Former health deputy director-general Prof Dr Lokman Hakim Sulaiman, meanwhile, said the government had no choice but to impose MCO 3.0 but warned it may not be completely effective.

He said that by allowing economic sectors to remain open, the government was taking a risk because there is a significant amount of people movement.

“With movement, there is the risk of the virus spreading. MCO 2.0 and 3.0 is not like the first MCO.

“There may be some reduction of cases and the impact of no Raya celebration and movement will be significant, but the reduction will not reach the level achieved in the first MCO.

“If the government chooses not to do aggressive case detection as happened in MCO 2.0, the reduction in cases will not be sustained, and we risk repeating the cycle again,” he said.

The government first implemented the MCO in March 2020 in an effort to bring down the Covid-19 infectivity rate.

The order lasted for three months before Putrajaya implemented the conditional movement-control order (CMCO) with certain economic sectors being allowed to open.

In August, Putrajaya introduced the recovery MCO (RMCO) with more sectors, including tourism, allowed to operate.

The number of new cases in Malaysia increased again in early 2021 after many positive cases were linked to workplace clusters. This was followed by MCO 2.0, which was enforced from January 13 to March 4.

Under MCO 2.0, the economic sector was largely allowed to operate but restrictions were placed on the social, education, sports and religious sectors.

Even before the announcement of MCO 3.0 yesterday, the government had put a number of states, including Kuala Lumpur and Selangor, under MCO. – May 12, 2021.