The term coronavirus has become the main buzz topic since the beginning of 2020. That’s because this virus has been spreading like wildfire and sparking fear amongst the public with its efficient replication method.

What is Coronavirus?

Coronavirus is a general term to define a family of viruses that cause diseases such as the common cold, Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) and Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), though lately it has been used synonymously with the name of the pandemic-causing disease, Covid-19.

How it started?

The story of the coronavirus disease seemed to originate from Wuhan, China. It was only known when the first few pneumonia cases of this new virus were reported to the World Health Organisation (WHO)’s China office on 31 December 2019. The source of this disease pointed at the Wuhan seafood market that is known to trade wild animals and their meat illegally such as birds, snakes and bats.

Since coronaviruses were known to transmit from humans to animals, it was strongly believed that Covid-19 infected the market traders and subsequently spread to the buyers, and then, the population worldwide. Later on, research was done to determine the origin of the virus, and it narrowed down to the possibility that wild bats were the coronavirus carriers.

On 11 February 2020, the WHO then labelled the new virus as coronavirus disease 2019 or Covid-19, the name of the pandemic as we now know caused by the virus aptly named as Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2(Sars-CoV-2).

As the world keeps up with the latest Covid19 updates online tallying the virus cases, cases have escalated to more than 1.2 million infections with over 69,000 deaths as of 6 April.

Covid-19 and Measures of Containment in Malaysia

When infections continued to rise in a logarithmic manner as seen in countries like Italy, the Malaysian government realised their people’s movements must be restricted to slow down infection – hence, a Movement Control Order (MCO) was placed on 18 March restricting people to stay home and only going out for essential things like food and groceries.

The MCO is meant to aid in social distancing, home quarantine & flattening the curve as suggested by medical professionals as a temporary measure to combat the virus outbreak. Yet this order is something most people aren’t mentally prepared for.

Effects of Covid-19 Pandemic in Malaysia

Initially, the MCO was supposed to be in place for only two weeks. However, due to increasing infection cases and deaths, the order was then extended to 14 April. With WHO’s statement on Malaysia likely to have increasing Covid cases in mid April, there have been speculations that the MCO will likely be extended again in the country.

So what has Covid-19 brought upon us? We start seeing the rise of government servants with ridiculous tips and advice such as the infamous “Warm water can kill the virus”  tip by our Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Adham Baba and later on, social media post by the Women and Family Ministry advising women to “reduce tension with husbands in the house by adopting cute Doraemon voice to talk gently & humourously instead of arguing”. These have then drawn plenty of flak and amusement within the country – perhaps we could blame the virus for causing such a response from them?

And online businesses have never been busier than before with the MCO in place. While many local offline businesses are forced to close or trying their best to survive, we also see many of these businesses now go online to cope with online shopping and online food delivery trend.

People spend more time on social media now, and shopping online becomes second nature if it isn’t so prior to MCO. Not only that, but the MCO also gives rise to more viral trends and challenges to cope with the situation – take for example the discovery of simple homemade Dalgona coffee that went viral from a TikTok video. Online learning websites like Coursera start offering free online courses to universities worldwide during the pandemic while telco companies provide their users extra mobile data for web surfing.

And the public start to gain awareness of the vital roles played by healthcare professionals, delivery personnel, police and army forces. These are the important frontliners that keep things going – from managing public movement to tending to the sick to making sure all kinds of deliveries reach their respective destinations, it is rather ironic that it takes a pandemic to make people realise and respect these sacrificing individuals.

That’s just the brighter side of the pandemic though. With stricter MCO enforced, more cases of domestic violence and child abuse are happening too. And what about daily paid workers and the homeless? Some have no food to eat during this ordeal and could hardly survive day to day throughout the MCO period, though thankfully there are NGOs going round to provide aid to these groups.

But…How Long Do We Have to Live Like This?

This question remains in the minds of many Malaysians – will the MCO be extended? How long do we have to be trapped in our homes? And how long more to endure restrictions after restrictions before we can finally defeat the virus for good?

One thing for sure, our country’s economy will continue to be at stake should there be an extended MCO again. On top of that, our mental health will suffer as well – maybe there will be more amusing tips and advice by the government?

Whatever it is, we hope the pandemic will end soon. Stay safe dear readers and have faith – this dark storm too, shall pass.