Jonathan Chai
KUCHING (June 11): It would be useless if the government decided to extend the Movement Control Order (MCO) but the standard operating procedure (SOP) compliance among the people is still lacking, said Jonathan Chai.
The Associated Chinese Chambers of Commerce and Industry Sarawak (ACCCIS) secretary-general said from his observation, the current MCO 3.0 has not been very effective in curbing the spread of Covid-19 nationwide.
This was mainly because of the lackadaisical attitude towards the compliance of the standard operating procedures (SOP), he opined.
“Compared with the MCO 1.0, more vehicles and people are on the road now, and I think some people are still adopting a lackadaisical attitude towards the compliance of the SOP,” he said when contacted by The Borneo Post today.
As such, Chai said the government should think it through first before deciding to extend the MCO.
He was prompted for comments on whether or not the current MCO, which is slated for until June 14, should be extended.
Chai said the number of daily Covid-19 cases have remained high in the last couple of weeks during this MCO 3.0 period.
“Before we decide whether to extend the current MCO, we have to ask whether the ongoing MCO has effectively slowed down or reduced the number of positive cases.
“It seems that the daily number of positive cases reported (in Sarawak) over the past week still remained high at around 600 to 700 cases per day,” he said.
Chai pointed out that it would not help much in curbing the pandemic if the compliance and enforcement of the SOP were too loose during the MCO, or if the MCO is extended.
He also felt that there must be an in-depth execution of the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme by getting sufficient supply of vaccines.
“With more vaccines secured, more people will be vaccinated so that the objective of herd immunity could be achieved as soon as possible.”
According to him, herd immunity is probably the only way out of this pandemic so as to bring back the normal life.
“Any implementation of the MCO, whether extended or otherwise, must be complemented with pragmatic exit plans and strategies so that the lockdown and the efforts of the frontliners would not go in vain and that the adverse impacts on the recovery of our fragile economy could be kept at minimal,” added Chai.