DR Mahathir Mohamad today poured scorn on the current total lockdown, saying many people are still moving around in the open.

The former prime minister said this is not a total lockdown because people are still going to work.

“This is not total at all. People still go out to work and there are lots of cars on the road and people going about,” Dr Mahathir said in a video message.

He said the government has given many exceptions for people to go about their business and hence it was not a total lockdown.

“I follow the standard operating procedures (SOP), I stay at home and don’t go to work.

“This government shouldn’t have said it is a total lockdown but a partial lockdown,” he said.

He said the government should enforce this lockdown as it did during the first movement control order (MCO) in March last year.

“This is definitely not a total lockdown,” he said.

Malaysia has registered another 7,703 new Covid-19 cases in the past 24 hours, raising the national cumulative caseload to 587,165.

The government is enforcing the current lockdown from June 1 until June 14 as a measure to flatten the Covid-19 curve, following a sharp rise in the daily number of cases since early April.

No social activities are permitted and only a few essential economic activities can continue.

Restaurants, food stalls, laundry services (including self-service laundries), pet care and food stores, eyewear and optical goods stores, hardware stores, vehicle repair and spare part shops, e-commerce (all product categories) as well as wholesale and distribution (for essential products only) are allowed to operate.

During the lockdown period, 80% of government staff and 40% of private sector workers are to work from home.

A one-stop centre, co-ordinated by the International Trade and Industry Ministry (Miti), has been established to issue work permits for essential services during the total lockdown.

The ministry said 95,142 companies had obtained the approvals to operate during the lockdown with strict compliance to the prescribed new SOPs.

To date, a total of 517,144 companies with a workforce of 9.67 million are registered with the Covid-19 intelligent management system (CIMS) 3.0 administered by Miti. – June 2, 2021.