THE indeterminate extension of the full lockdown nationwide is excessive and will only further damage the economy, said five associations for retailers and shopping malls.

They said the government should review its decision to avoid further business closures and the layoffs of yet more employees.

The associations said they were also disappointed with the blanket lockdown despite their previous pleas for such lockdowns to be implemented by locality or sectors infected with Covid-19 clusters.

“The rationale to have a blanket lockdown of the entire nation is totally overkill, and unnecessarily causing further damage to the economy, especially punishing those sectors that have diligently complied with standard operating procedure (SOP).

“In other words, the ‘safe zones’ are being unfairly penalised by those in the hot spots,” said the associations in a joint statement.

The five associations were the Malaysia Shopping Malls Association, Malaysia Retailers Association (MRA), Malaysia Retail Chain Association (MRCA), Bumiputra Retailers Organisation (BRO) and Malaysia REIT Managers Association (MRMA).

They said that Health Ministry data revealed that the retail and shopping sector, including outside shopping areas, contributed to merely 0.8% of all Covid-19 cases in May 2021, even prior to the full lockdown, which began on June 1.

They said this significantly improved, and the extremely low figures testified to the retail and mall industries’ strict adherence to the SOP.

They added that they should not be unduly penalised with closure from operating.

“We do not understand why our shopping mall and retail industry is again being unfairly dealt with this terminal punishment even though we have fully complied with all SOP and maintained a good record but continue to be unjustifiably punished instead.

“To avoid further permanent business closures and layoff of yet more employees, it will be judicious to allow all economic sectors which are not at risk to re-open immediately, especially the shopping malls and retail shops.”

Yesterday Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin said the full lockdown would not end today, but would be in place until daily Covid-19 cases are at 4,000 or below, a reduction in average ICU usage and having 10% of the population vaccinated.

This period would be known as Phase 1 of the National Recovery Plan, and more economic sectors would be allowed to operate under the next phase, he said. – June 28, 2021.