AS we head into the second week of the movement control order (MCO), confusion still reigns over the Covid-19 standard operating procedures (SOPs). We would be lying if we say that the confusion hasn’t bubbled over into anger and frustration.

Many are annoyed that the SOPs keep changing. For example, why is it that during the early days of the first MCO last year, each vehicle could only have one passenger (the driver)? But during MCO 3.0, each vehicle can carry a maximum of three passengers, including the driver.

Before we go into the merits of the SOPs, we need to concede that this Covid-19 pandemic is unlike any crisis we have seen before. It has swept across the globe with a ferocity and speed unprecedented in modern times.

Compared with other diseases, scientists are only just starting to understand Covid-19, and the virus SARS-CoV-2. Worse still, the strain is fast mutating, such as the B.1.617.1 family, popularly known as the Indian strain.

The strain has a different genetic makeup, spreads fast, is seemingly harder to detect in the early stages and causes more severe symptoms. Scientists the world over are trying to stay ahead with research into this virus to find the best solutions to contain its spread and mitigate its symptoms, whether through better detection protocols and enhancing efficacy of current vaccines.

But the Covid-19 pandemic is not just a global medical crisis. It is as much a socio-economic one as normalcy is upended following lockdowns and physical distancing rules that impede economic growth and limit our traditional forms of social interaction.

One crisis on a global scale is hard enough for governments the world over to grapple with, let alone two. We are at a point in history without precedent, no reference point. In a sense, governments are groping in the dark, save for the occasional glimmer from scientific breakthroughs or experience scaling a steep learning curve.

This would explain why our Covid-19 SOPs keep changing. Adaptability should not be mistaken for weakness but recognised as strength. Malaysia is not alone. Singapore, which had a sterling track record keeping the coronavirus at bay, saw an explosion in cases in its foreign workers’ dormitories in September last year.

It took a few months for the situation to ease, before the discovery of SARS-CoV-2 variant of concern in the republic just recently. This week, Singapore is going back into lockdown as the country adapts to the latest epidemiological developments.

The UK, which had leapfrogged ahead of many nations with its speedy Covid-19 vaccination programme, is now mulling re-imposing many of the restrictions it had wanted to lift by June 21, owing to the prevalence of the Indian strain of the coronavirus in the country.

Even advanced countries have had to keep adapting their Covid-19 rules to suit prevailing scientific knowledge and social conditions. The Malaysian government is merely doing the same.

Humans are by nature resistant to change and disruptions. Often, we get frustrated when we are often told to do things differently because it disrupts our lives. But in all honesty, we should appreciate that the government is only trying to make sure we stay alive. – May 17, 2021.

* Loh Kah Hoong reads The Malaysian Insight.