First 14 days: Retracing Covid-19 war under MCO in Sarawak

KUCHING: Countries around the world are by now, mostly under some form of restriction to mitigate the spread of the Coronavirus Disease (Covid-19).

Yesterday marked exactly two weeks since Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin declared that Malaysia will undergo a Movement Control Order (MCO) — the first in the country’s history — from March 18 to 31.

He told the nation in a live broadcast over national television on March 16 that the order was made under the Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases Acts 1988 and the Police Act 1967.

“I am aware that all of you may feel that the action taken by the government will cause inconvenience and difficulty in your daily lives.

“However, this action must be taken by the government to curb the spread of the Covid-19 epidemic that is likely to cost the lives of people of this country,” he said.

MCO entails comprehensive restriction on movements and public gatherings throughout the country including religious, sports, social and cultural activities.

The order also meant that all schools, higher learning institutions, houses of worships and business premises are to close during the period with the exception of supermarkets, wet markets, grocery shops and convenience stores selling daily necessities.

All government and private premises would also be closed except for those providing essential services.

Muhyiddin urged Malaysians to stay at home during MCO to break the chain of Covid-19 infection.

“The purpose (of the MCO) is for all of you to stay at home. Stay at home and protect yourself and your family,” he said.

Sarawak’s fight against Covid-19

Sarawak has been preparing to fight against the Covid-19 outbreak way before the MCO was enforced with the State Disaster Management Committee (JPBN) led by Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas, overseeing the preventive measures such as readying its facilities, strategies, logistics, doctors, nurses and other health workers to combat any possible spread of the disease.

One of the first preventive measures was the inclusion of additional thermal scanners at Kuching International Airport, Sibu, Bintulu and Miri airports as well as the Customs, Immigration and Quarantine Centre (CIQ) between Sarawak and Brunei at Sungai Tujoh in Miri.

Since Jan 29, the state also required that all visitors entering Sarawak must fill in a health declaration form stating their travel history in the past 14 days. Visitors and returning Sarawakians will also be issued with a 14-day Stay Home Notice (SHN) with relevant agencies monitoring SHN holders through random visits, phone calls and modern technology applications.

With the enforcement of the MCO, the Sarawak government also implemented its own directive whereby all hypermarkets, supermarkets, markets, coffee shops, private clinics, restaurants, 24-hour convenience stores and petrol stations in the state will not be allowed to operate between 7pm and 7am from March 24 onwards.

JPBN in a statement said this new requirement was necessary to stop the movement of the public.

It also said that supermarkets, hypermarkets, markets, pharmacies and private clinics would also be required to implement social distancing at their respective premises.

The committee also set up a Covid-19 screening centre at the Youth and Sports Complex at Jalan Tun Ahamd Zaidi Adruce and a respiratory clinic at the Kuching Multipurpose Indoor Arena in Petra Jaya which provides free screening service for those who have cough, cold, fever and other respiratory problems.

Sarawak’s first Covid-19 cases and death

On March 13, Sarawak recorded its first Covid-19 cases after three people were tested positive. Two of them were among the crowd attending the tabligh religious gathering at Sri Petaling Mosque in Kuala Lumpur from Feb 28 to March 1 while the third case was a family member.

The gathering, which was attended by around 16,000 Muslims pilgrims from various countries became the source of hundreds of new Covid-19 infections. More than 600 Sarawakians were believed to have attended the event.

Then on March 17, the state suffered its first death from Covid-19 when a 60-year-old pastor was confirmed to have died from the disease. Since then, the death toll in Sarawak has reached eight with the death of a 40-year-old lecturer from Kota Samarahan yesterday.

The death toll in the country now stands at 43 while the number of Covid-19 infections had reached 2,766 as of yesterday.

Stimulus packages for the people

Muhyiddin, on March 27, unveiled a RM250 billion comprehensive Prihatin Economic Stimulus Package to help Malaysians weather the economic uncertainties aggregated by the Covid-19 pandemic.

He assured that no Malaysians will be left behind as the stimulus package will see RM128 billion allocated for the people’s welfare, RM100 billion for businesses particularly small and medium enterprises, and RM2  billion to strengthen the economy.

He said the government will give RM400 to RM600 in special allowances for doctors, nurses and health workers in the front lines from April 1 until the pandemic is over.

Muhyiddin also said the special allowance of RM200 for army, police, customs, immigration and Rela staff involved on the MCO front lines would continue.

He listed one-off payments totalling RM10 billion for the M40 group, farmers, and small businesses in the private sector.

These include RM1,600 for four million households earning RM4,000 and below and RM1,000 for 1.1 million households earning RM4,000 to RM8,000, with RM500 paid in April and the balance in May.

On the Sarawak front, Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg also announced the Sarawakku Sayang Special Aid Package worth more than RM1.15 billion to help Sarawakians in this trying time. He said the package involved a direct expenditure by the Sarawak government amounting to RM974.75 million to mitigate the impact of the economic slowdown and reduce the burden of Sarawakians.

This is further supplemented by deferment of loan repayment, waiver of payments and discount of Sarawak government basic services of RM179.79 million for this year.

There are 16 measures in the special aid package that would benefit Sarawakians especially the B40 group as well as businesses such as waiver of permit and licence fees; 25 per cent discount on assessment rates; and 30 per cent discount for land rent and deferment of land premiums among others.

Extension of MCO

On March 25, a week shy from the last day of MCO, Muhyiddin announced that he had no choice but to extend the order for another two weeks until April 14.

He said he was briefed by the Ministry of Health and the National Security Council that the trend showed that new cases of Covid-19 were still occurring.

“The trend is expected to continue for some time before new cases will begin to decline. This requires the government to continue the MCO for a longer period of time.

“I know you feel burdened but I don’t have a choice. I have to extend the MCO for your own safety,” he said and urged the people not to panic and to stay calm.

He also said the duration of MCO will be reviewed from time to time.

“If there is a need to extend it, I will make an announcement. But what is important is that everyone stays at home longer.”

Meanwhile, Ministry of Health director-general Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said the MCO was part of the government’s preparation to face the third wave of Covid-19 infections, which the ministry had termed as a ‘tsunami.’

He said many Malaysians go overseas for their holidays and revealed that the Ministry of Health found one ministry had already approved 8,000 leave applications for travel.

“Let’s take that one ministry as an example. People usually go on vacation with their families. An average Malaysian family consists of four individuals —father, mother and two children. That one ministry alone will have 32,000 people who might be infected when they come home.

“It will trigger another wave, one that we imported. If you recall Case 23, it was a family that came home from Japan and they tested positive,” he was quoted as saying by Malay Mail.

He said the government feared that if the estimated 32,000 Malaysian tourists return home, the country would have an exponential spike on Covid-19 import cases.

“We don’t have the capacity to isolate and place them in quarantine. That’s one ministry, what about the rest of Malaysia?”

As such, he said the best measure to tackle the Covid-19 pandemic before it grew out of control was to implement the MCO, forcing nearly the entire country to sit at home in quarantine to limit the virus’ infection rate and capability to infect.

He added that this would be the first step to enable the government to track down any Covid-19 cases easier and to take necessary action such as ferrying the Covid-19 patients to hospital or asking them to self-isolate themselves.