Is it worth keeping life safe at the expense of the mental health and economy of the country?

When the 8th Prime Minister of Malaysia, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin announced on 10 April 2020 that the Movement Control Order (MCO), also known as Restricted Movement Order (RMO), will be extended for another two weeks until 28 April 2020, the flicker of hope amongst Malaysians to taste the freedom of moving about becomes dim back again.

What is MCO and How Does It Work?

MCO is a rule enforced upon the public to ensure people stay at home instead of being out, which increases the chance of contracting the virus called Covid-19, the cause of the coronavirus pandemic the world faces currently. MCO is meant to flatten the curve of the virus spread, which appears to scale up exponentially at a terrifying rate.

In Malaysia, the MCO commenced on 18 March 2020 and initially, the first phase of the order was supposed to last for two weeks. Only essential sectors are allowed to operate, such as water, electricity, energy, telecommunications, postal, transportation, irrigation, oil, petrol, broadcasting, finance, banking, health, pharmacy, fire prevention, prisons, ports, airports, security, defense, cleaning, food supply and retail. People were told to stay at home, practice social distancing, maintain hygiene and only go out for grocery shopping, banking or essential work.

When the figures of the number of infections and death cases kept increasing, the government decided to extend the MCO to a second phase for a fortnight. Roadblocks were set up monitored by the police and army forces, and social distancing in the form of 1-metre gap queues were extended to even the wet markets.

And just when the whole of Malaysia was looking forward to the end of the order, the government announced yet another 2-week extension. The Prime Minister even hinted at the possibility of extension for 3 months should the pandemic situation remain bleak.

The Dark Side of MCO

Where do we even begin when it comes to the effects of MCO? From the start, many people already feel the pinch of the imposed restricted movement order. The country’s economy is at a steady loss since plenty of sectors deemed non-essential are forced to be stagnant.

Many businesses struggle to maintain their presence by changing their business models from offline to online and dishing out attractive offers to woo their home quarantined customers. Some, unfortunately, are forced to close their businesses forever.

The marginalized daily paid workers and migrant workers are also suffering from the brunt of MCO─these people no longer have a steady stream of income to support their living. Some of them have no food to eat nor a place to stay and could only wait for some kind-hearted souls or NGOs to listen to their plights.

Mental health gets worse too. People are more stressed and depressed from working from home and being stuck within a confined space. Cases of women and child abuse are also on the rise, including increased baby dumping activities.

And the worst part out of MCO? We witness the ugly side of humanity. Panic buying, hoarding, refusing to abide by the MCO rules, scamming on the rise and politicking all in a mix─who would have thought cases like people snatching Gardenia bread and families getting fined for shopping for groceries together against the MCO rule still can happen in a supposed advanced civilization in 2020? It seems such a restriction order brings out the worst in people the longer the MCO drags on.

The Bright Side of MCO

Like everything else, there’s also a good side to the restricted movement order despite the bad parts. The MCO appears to be effective in terms of reducing the number of infections and deaths, and Malaysia has successfully managed to flatten the curve of Covid-19 cases from peaking drastically like other countries such as America, Italy and Spain. Management of the disease is easier since the MCO prevents the gathering of crowds which is the fastest way for the coronavirus to spread.

We also see a huge shift towards doing business online, giving rise to more digital marketing efforts and e-commerce businesses. This trend is good in the long run as the country plans to head further into a wholly digitized nation in line with the original 2020 vision.

It is also reported that crime rates have dropped thanks to the enhanced roadblocks and checkpoints. Not only that but worldwide pollution is also much reduced since many factories are unable to operate and vehicles are taking a break from travelling on the road, which are one of the main sources of air and water pollution.

The MCO is also a good time for the public to spend more time with their family, pick up new hobbies, exercise regularly and work on things they love but do not have the time to do otherwise prior to MCO. It is also the perfect chance to slow down in life from what used to be a hectic lifestyle and gives room for all of us to reflect, appreciate and be grateful to one another.

We also see good Samaritans and NGOs stepping out to tend to the needy and poor by distributing free food, masks and sanitizers throughout the MCO. At an individual level, there are also generous souls who help to share food and groceries with neighbours. At least it is heartwarming to know that the MCO does bring out the best in people too.

MCO Doing More Good than Harm, or Harm than Good?

As the nation strives to make do with the MCO, most of us can’t help but to wonder…Is the MCO doing the country more good than harm or otherwise?

Is it worth sacrificing freedom & economy for health & safety?

How long does it take for things to go back to normal even after MCO?

No one has the absolute answer to thoughts but one thing for sure, it will take a long time for the country and its people to recover from the effects of MCO apart from the coronavirus pandemic itself.

Regardless, let us all continue to weather the dark times by doing our parts to battle against the deadly virus. And most importantly, never lose hope ─ The better days will come soon enough.

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.