EIGHT in 10 Malaysians say their situations have worsened since the start of the third wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, the government said.

“Since the third Covid-19 wave and second movement-control order (MCO 2.0), almost 80% of parents said their economic situation and mental health have deteriorated,” the Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development told Dewan Rakyat in a written reply today.

“Before the third Covid-19 wave, 49.4% said their lives had returned to normal and the majority had begun adapting to the new norms,” said the ministry.

The ministry said the findings came from a survey by the National Population and Family Development Board (LPPKN).

The telephone survey, which involved 1,148 respondents, involved Malaysian parents that have children aged between seven and 24 and was carried out from March 5 to March 14 this year.

Among the salient points in the survey are:

- 28% of parents say their financial situation has worsened during the MCO.

- 84.1% of the parents said they had experienced emotional stress.

- 21.3% said they were stressed over their children’s education.

- 16.4% said they were stressed by the lockdown and limited outdoor activities.

- 12.2% said they were stressed by the uncertainty of the lockdowns.

“The study showed that 63% said they experienced depression while 20.4% said they had trouble controlling their anger.

“16.8% said they had trouble sleeping and 15.8% said they had frequent headaches and stomach aches,” said the ministry.

Parents also found it difficult to manage online schooling for their children.

“Although, 90% of the parents owned electronic devices such as tablets, computers and smartphones, only 37.5% said they had stable internet at home.

“The majority (70%) said they wanted schools and universities and colleges to be reopened with full SOPs,” said the ministry.

The survey showed that 24.4% of parents said their children had difficulty studying while 19.2% said their children lost focus during the online teaching.

The government was responding to a question from Hasan Baharom (Tampin-PH) who asked for divorce statistics during the Covid-19 pandemic and the government’s efforts to reduce the number of divorces. – September 15, 2021.