THE enhanced movement-control order (EMCO) in Selangor and Kuala Lumpur is bound to fail if the government does not take proactive measures in improving testing, ramping up vaccinations and enhancing the standard operating procedure (SOP) in these areas, experts said.

They warned that if these parameters were not met, both these areas could possibly see the EMCO being extended beyond the stipulated two-week period, which means the current lockdown has failed.

As it is, the nation has been under a full lockdown from June 1, and despite being in a state of emergency since January 11, Covid-19 cases continued to stay above 6,000 daily, with the majority of cases coming from the Klang Valley, especially Selangor.

Former deputy health minister Dr Lee Boon Chye said if the government was serious in curbing Covid-19 infections in these two states, it must urgently increase testing and vaccinations, and implement stricter SOP.

“We are still slow in terms of testing. Our maximum testing capacity is about 200,000 a day.

“The population in the EMCO areas could possibly be around six million, and if the government carries out 200,000 tests a day, it will take 30 days to complete one round of testing for all.

“We need two rounds of testing in two weeks. With an average of 70,000 to 80,000 tests per day, which is far from satisfactory, this could… be impossible to achieve,” the Gopeng MP said.

Several sub-districts in Selangor and 16 areas in Kuala Lumpur were placed under the EMCO for two weeks from July 3 to 16.

The announcement of the lockdown came after Selangor and Kuala Lumpur continuously reported a spike in Covid-19 cases.

Despite the movement-control order (MCO) or total lockdown implemented by Putrajaya on June 1, Selangor kept reporting the highest cases by state daily, while Kuala Lumpur breached its first 1,000 cases on June 29 with 1,361 cases.

Senior Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob said the Health Ministry would conduct targeted screening tests on all residents in the affected areas.

He also said that the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme coordinating committee has given an assurance that the vaccination programme would be enhanced and intensified in the affected areas.

Lee however questioned whether Malaysia had enough vaccines to inoculate the population that is under EMCO.

He said increasing vaccine distribution to affected areas could impact the vaccination drive in other areas, adding that the government had not procured enough vaccines.

“If they want to vaccinate the whole EMCO area, do we have enough vaccines?

“If the EMCO areas are prioritised, then vaccinations in other areas will slow down because we don’t have enough vaccines at the moment.

“That is the problem… the government did not put much effort in getting enough vaccines,” he said.

Selangor yesterday announced that it is targeting to vaccinate 135,000 people daily this month under the Selangor Vaccination Programme (Selvax).

Menteri Besar Amirudin Shari said Selangor will be ramping up its daily vaccination rate to 135,000 per day this month and 165,000 per day in August.

Selangor is also adopting the ring vaccination strategy with a focus on the manufacturing and services sectors. 

State industry and trade committee chairman Teng Chang Khim had said Selvax aims to vaccinate one million employees and is open to companies and industries to participate in voluntarily.

Ring vaccination is a strategy to inhibit the spread of a disease by vaccinating those who are most likely to be infected.

Putrajaya aims to fully inoculate 10% of the population by the middle of the month. Eight million doses of vaccines have been administered since the start of the immunisation programme in late February, and 12 million more doses are expected to be delivered this month.

The government has also launched a parallel vaccination programme called Pikas in collaboration with the private sector to vaccinate factory workers.

Educate the people

Meanwhile, Lee also said that the government must review and tighten the SOP to reduce the number of cases emerging from workplaces.

He said that merely issuing compounds to violators would not improve the situation.

“At the moment, the implementation of SOP is all about summons. It is never about educating people how to prevent infections.

“They need to have good enforcement of good public health measures. If we can implement very good preventative measures, then infections can be reduced,” he said.

According to Galen Centre for Health and Social Policy chief executive Azrul Mohd Khalib, placing entire districts, and practically the whole of Selangor, under an EMCO, was a terrible move.

He said that the lockdown implemented by the government did not work.

He said the previous lockdowns implemented in the country, apart from the first MCO in March last year, have not proven to reduce cases.

He added that Putrajaya was repeating the same strategy but expecting different results.

“The EMCO is a terrible move and will likely cause more harm, suffering and deprivation to the people when it is supposed to protect from Covid-19.

“There has been no demonstration or presentation of scientific evidence that lockdowns work in a generalised epidemic context.

“For the past month, we have seen how lockdowns have not translated into actual reductions in cases. Unfortunately, we expect the same to happen during this EMCO.

“Hoping for a different result is irresponsible. Lockdowns do not work,” he said.

Malaysia’s overall Covid-19 cases are closing in on 800,000 with more than 5,000 deaths.

Public hospitals in the Klang Valley are suffering from bed shortages, with ICU wards are overrun with Covid-19 patients. – July 6, 2021.