The business sector, it said, cannot survive being plunged into another strict lockdown.
In a statement, it said the industry as a whole was “deeply alarmed” by the health ministry warning that the health system is at a breaking point due to overwhelming number of active Covid-19 cases.
With around 30% of current active clusters linked to the manufacturing sector, it called on the sector to “give its fullest cooperation and play its part by taking the additional proactive and preventive measures to tighten the existing SOPs” to avoid the “devastating” effects a total lockdown would cause to businesses and jobs.
“The FMM strongly believes that it is important for the current infections and clusters to be managed effectively so that the chain of infections can be broken swiftly. We, the business sector, cannot withstand another round of total lockdown similar to the MCO in March 2020.”
Additional measures include testing all foreign workers as quickly as possible, ensuring transportation runs at under half capacity, appointing senior management to oversee compliance, establishing dedicated isolation areas for suspected or positive cases and minimising worker movements.
Further, FMM called on the government to help employers comply with directives by subsidising the cost of RTK-antigen test kits so employers can arrange mandatory screening quickly, ensuring clinics adhere to the gazetted costs of tests for all including foreign workers, and making sure lab capacity is sufficient to deliver timely test results.
It also asked for the government’s help on worker accommodation, so that local authorities facilitate approvals to create additional accommodation space for workers.
“We are all frontliners in this fight against Covid-19 and each and every one of us must have the collective responsibility to support the government’s continued efforts to flatten the Covid -19 curve while ensuring the economic well-being of the rakyat and the nation.”
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