KUALA LUMPUR, Investor.id – The Malaysian government has imposed a lockout (lockdownstrict national security regulations on Tuesday (1/6) to combat the worsening coronavirus outbreak. At the same time, countries in Southeast Asia are struggling to reduce the increase in the number of cases due to the transmission of a number of variants.
Most regions escaped the first wave of the pandemic last year, relatively without difficulty closing borders quickly and introducing restrictions. But countries from Thailand to Vietnam are being hit by a new wave. Meanwhile, efforts to contain the spread of the outbreak have been hampered by slow vaccine rollouts and a population tired of restrictions.
The Malaysian government was among the hardest hit. Of the nearly 2,800 Covid-19 deaths recorded in the country of 32 million since the pandemic began, around 40% have occurred only in May. More than 570,000 infections have been reported, with a series of new diaries last week.
In addition to the variants that spread more massively, the corona outbreak was spread by gatherings in the Muslim-majority country during the holy month of Ramadan and the Eid holiday. At that moment, Malaysians often violate health protocols.
Under what authorities are calling a “total lockdown” that takes effect from Tuesday, only essential businesses, such as supermarkets and medical clinics are allowed to operate. People can only leave their homes for their necessities and most schools are closed.
Travel between most countries has been banned for months. Despite growing calls for tougher action, the two-week lockdown will deal a fresh blow to many businesses that have struggled to stay afloat for the past year.
“The impact of the coronavirus on small businesses like me is devastating. The government is on lockdown, but the virus is in the air. They need to speed up vaccinations,” said Lilian Chua, 42, owner of a salon business outside the capital Kuala Lumpur which had to close, Tuesday (1 /6). Less than 6% of Malaysians have so far received at least one dose of the vaccine.
Slow Vaccine Launch
Meanwhile, the Vietnamese government was praised for keeping infections low last year. But the number of cases has more than doubled in the last month, prompting the country’s officials to suspend the arrival of foreigners at some airports and enforce social distancing in Ho Chi Minh.
State media also reported that authorities were urging private companies to get vaccine shots for their workers.
Vietnam’s Health Minister has reportedly held meetings with South Korea’s Samsung and LG, as well as various embassies and chambers of commerce, to discuss vaccine supplies.
At the same time, overcrowded prisons have become the epicenter of a escalating outbreak in Thailand, which is recording more than 4,000 infections a day.
Prosperous Singapore, after seeing almost no local transmission for months, tightened restrictions in May, as cases of the coronavirus rose. Authorities briefly mentioned concerns about the virus variant.
Simultaneously, the Philippine government imposed a new lockdown in and around Manila in March as hospitals struggled to cope, although restrictions have been relaxed as infections fall.
On the other hand, infection rates have been relatively stable lately in Indonesia, which was hit hard last year, at the start of the pandemic.
Editor : Abdul Aziz | ([email protected])
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