MALAYSIA announced its third nationwide movement-control order (MCO 3.0) from May 12 to June 7 in an effort to stem the high rate of daily Covid-19 infections. 

This MCO – the third lockdown since last year – sees interstate and cross-district travels suspended, and house visits and visiting of graves for the Hari Raya Aidilfitri celebrations banned. 

However, it is not as tight as the first MCO, which was enforced on March 18 last year when the virus started to become a threat in the country.

This time around almost all economic sectors are allowed to operate. Social gatherings are prohibited, along with official functions in both the public and private sectors. 

The Malaysian Insight takes a look at the other two previous MCOs.

Malaysia detected its first Covid-19 case on January 25, 2020, involving three Chinese citizens who had entered Malaysia via Johor from Singapore. 

In the first wave of Covid-19, a total of 22 cases were reported in the country – all cured and were allowed to return home.

Malaysia then entered the second wave of the Covid-19 outbreak on February 27, as cases started surging. In this wave, massive local transmission took place as a result of a four-day religious event held at the Sri Petaling Mosque, Selangor. This was dubbed the Tabligh cluster, from February 27 to March 1, 2020, with more than 16,000 people believed to have attended the event.

Unable to control the number of rising cases, a majority of countries across the globe made a move to place their nation under lockdown, and Malaysia was no exception.

The first lockdown

On March 16 last year, Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin announced that the country will be placed under a two-week complete lockdown (MCO 1.0) from March 18 to 31, with only essential sectors allowed to operate. 

On the day of the prime minister’s announcement, overall cases in the country stood at 553, with 511 of them being active. 

The following day (March 17), Malaysia recorded its first two deaths due to the virus, one being a pastor in Kuching, Sarawak and the other a tabligh event attendee. 

On the first day of nationwide lockdown, Malaysia reported 117 new daily cases and one death, taking the cumulative to 790 cases and three deaths respectively. 

The MCO was then extended three times during this period, with the final extension being from April 29 to May 12, 2020. 

During the MCO period, the highest cases recorded on a day was on March 26, where 235 infections while seven deaths were reported on March 29. 

Cases in the country were soon brought under control, whereby from April 17 onwards (except May 2 and 3), Malaysia reported two-digit daily cases. This prompted the government to shorten the MCO period and to introduce the conditional MCO (CMCO) starting May 4. 

During the MCO period alone (March 18 to May 3), a total of 5,625 Covid-19 positive cases and 103 fatalities were recorded. 

Cumulatively cases stood at 6,298 – 1,764 of them being active. 

During this period, Selangor topped the chart with 1,529 infections, followed by Kuala Lumpur with 1,308 and Johor with 667. Active cases were at 1,764. 

In the CMCO period, which lasted just more than a month until June 9, transmissions were largely controlled to two figures almost daily, while towards the end, daily cases even dropped to a single digit (seven cases on June 8 and 9). 

The only time cases breached 200 was on June 4, where 277 cases were reported, of which 270 stemmed from the Bukit Jalil Immigration detention centre. 

A total of 2,038 Covid-19 cases and only 12 deaths were reported in this period. 

Cumulative cases were at 8,336, while the death toll stood at 117. 

Of the cumulative cases, Kuala Lumpur this time topped the chart with 2,398 cases, followed by Selangor (1,971) and Johor (676). 

On June 7, Muhyiddin announced that the CMCO will end and will be replaced with the recovery MCO nationwide.

Battle seemingly won

During this period, Malaysia seemed to have won the battle, where cases were fluctuating between single and double digits. 

One – was the lowest number of daily Covid-19 cases recorded in this period and the nation even went on to report zero local transmission on five different occasions in this phase. 

The infamous and deadly Tabligh cluster, which recorded a total of 3,375 cases and 34 deaths, also ended in this period. 

Malaysia also went 29 consecutive days (August 1 to 29) without reporting a single death, a record streak that even stands till date.

Then came the 16th Sabah elections on September 26, after a series of defections by reps, causing the assembly to dissolve. 

Political campaigners and ministers were making round trips to the Borneo state for campaigning and later elections. 

Senior Minister (Security Cluster) Ismail Sabri Yaakob even said there wasn’t a need to quarantine for interstate travellers, even if they were returning from a red-zone state. 

A few days into the campaign period, cases increased rapidly and Malaysia soon crossed the 10,000 mark on September 16, (10,131 cases). 

Director-general of health Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said the third wave of the Covid-19 began on September 20 and cases increased steeply thereafter. 

After the elections, besides Sabah, cases were also rising in the Klang Valley. To curb the transmissions, all states in Klang Valley and Sabah were placed under CMCO. 

During this period, Malaysia went on to record its first four-digit cases on October 24, with 1,228 infections, while Sabah also reported most daily Covid-19 cases by state for 39 consecutive days (October 7 to November 11). 

The nation also reported its first double-figure fatalities on October 23, when 10 people succumbed to the illness. 

Then on November 7, the Teratai cluster involving the world’s largest glove manufacturer was detected. According to Noor Hisham, the virus has spread beyond the factory workers’ circle and spawned a second generation of infection. 

On December 24, the caseload in Malaysia crossed the 100,000 mark and by December 31, total caseload was at 113,010, recoveries (88,941) and deaths (471).

Of them, Sabah had recorded the most cases by state with 37,040 followed by Selangor with 32,393 and Kuala Lumpur with 13,489.

Second lockdown and emergency

On January 12, 2021, Yang di-Pertuan Agong Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri’ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah assented to the Perikatan Nasional government’s request for an emergency until August 1, less than 24 hours after Putrajaya similarly announced MCO 2.0 in the country for six states (Penang, Selangor, Federal Territories, Malacca, Johor and Sabah), which were reporting high daily cases. 

Although claimed to be imposed with stricter standard operating procedure, the MCO 2.0 wasn’t anywhere near the first. 

The lockdown was eventually extended to other states, except Sarawak effective January 22 and went on until February 18. 

During this period, cases peaked above 2,000 daily, eventually reporting the highest daily case in the country on January 30 with 5,728 infections recorded. 

Later, the government again extended the MCO in four states (Kuala Lumpur, Selangor, Johor and Penang) until March 4, while placing the other 10 states and territories under CMCO. 

When the MCO 2.0 ended on March 4, the total cases recorded in this phase of lockdown alone was an astonishing 169,744 infections and 598 deaths. 

Cumulatively, cases were at 307,943, recoveries (283,629) and deaths (1,153). 

Selangor had already breached 100,000 infections in this stage, reporting 102,228 confirmed cases, followed by Sabah (53,216) and Johor (37,241). 

Under the CMCO, Malaysia continued to record more than 1,000 cases daily except on March 29, where it reported 941 cases. This was the first time in 109 days the country had reported three-digit cases since the last one reported on December 9, 2020. 

On April 17, the Teratai cluster – linked to the rubber glove factory, detected on November 7, 2020, ended. It was the biggest cluster till date with 7,205 people testing positive at its closing. 

With a slow National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme, which began on February 24, there was no improvement to the situation. 

Cases were rising, intensive care unit beds were almost completely occupied and different variants of virus were causing concerns. 

As of May 7, the number of fatalities tripled the total recorded in 2020, with 1,632 deaths reported. 

Of them 90% (1,470) were Malaysians, 85% (1,390) were above the age of 50, 64% (1,045) were male, 89% (1,423) had more than one comorbidity, 87% (1,159) were presented at stage 4 and 5; and 18% (293) died before reaching the hospitals. 

Hence, to curb the virus, Muhyiddin announced a four-week lockdown (MCO 3.0) starting May 12 to June 7. 

This time, there were stricter restrictions against inter-district and interstate travel, social activities, sports and education. However, economic sectors remained open. 

In the three days of MCO 3.0, Malaysia reported the fourth and fifth highest case since the pandemic (4,855 cases on and Thursday and 4,765 on Wednesday) and also recorded the most deaths in a single day (39 deaths on Wednesday). 

The nation has reported a total of 13,733 cases and 100 deaths in just three days of MCO 3.0. 

Cumulatively, cases in Malaysia are at 462,190 and death toll is at 1,822. 

Selangor has the bulk of the cases with 149,612 cases, followed by Sabah (59,149) and Johor (49,427). – May 16, 2021.