Dr Khor Swee Kheng, a health systems and policies specialist, said any decision to implement an “MCO 2.0” is a complicated one that requires nuanced examination.
According to him, simply questioning whether such a lockdown would work to stem transmission and if it would come at a great cost distracts from the more pertinent concerns, as the answers have already been made clear.
“In a complex pandemic, we should try to avoid ‘Yes or No’ questions. Instead, we may need more open-ended and broader questions.”
He suggested the public and government first look into why the country had gotten to this point and how we can avoid implementing another MCO.
“We must ask different questions that allow us to solve a complex problem in multiple ways. A pandemic is complex and cannot be reduced to oversimplified conversations.
“An MCO is one of many tools to fight a pandemic. We cannot place too much focus on one tool and forget to strengthen others like testing, tracing and isolating,” Khor told FMT.
Regarding how Malaysia’s situation had devolved to this point, he said that a lack of long-term planning during initial waves of infection left the country ill-prepared.
He added that a mitigation strategy spanning the next three years is needed as Covid-19 is not going to disappear even with the introduction of vaccines this year.
On avoiding another MCO, Khor referred to an open letter to the prime minister signed by himself and over 40 other medical professionals last week, which contained 10 intervention measures, such as utilising faster testing methods to allow for quicker response times and employing advanced data analytics in contact tracing.
This sentiment was echoed by Universiti Malaya (UM) professor of medicine Dr Adeeba Kamarulzaman, another signatory of the letter to the prime minister, who said an MCO should be viewed as a “solution of last resort.”
“We can’t be in MCO forever, and we can’t afford to go into these cycles of opening, closing, opening, closing,” she said.
Adeeba added that the government must look towards implementing sustainable, long-term measures that the public is able to live with, as it’s more likely that Malaysians will need to live with persistent low numbers of cases moving forward rather than stamping out the virus entirely, which she said would be “painful” for the public.
“There must be more attention paid to real drivers of transmission, like the foreign worker issues and prison issues, which require tough decisions beyond the health sector, with the home affairs ministry, the judiciary and even civil society needing to be involved.
“We can test until kingdom come, but if we don’t address the underlying issues, like housing standards for example, there will continue to be ignition points for infection.”
She added that the public must also do their part, which would require “clear, transparent messaging and no double standards” from the government to restore public trust and improve compliance.
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