He said it was important to consider the full impact of a total lockdown. “The loss of income for one breadwinner may well adversely affect the livelihoods of at least four people in a family,” he said in a statement marking one year since the first Covid-19 case was detected in Malaysia.

“Recent calls to reimpose a total lockdown in order to deal with the massive spike in infections in this third wave must be viewed along with other suggestions concerning alternative strategies and options,” he said.

Azmin dismissed the notion that the economy could be revived immediately once such a lockdown is lifted. “The economy does not run on a ‘switch off-switch on’ mode,” he said, adding that the government had a number of additional measures at its disposal to help stem Covid-19 transmissions without an economic shutdown.

He suggested the government tighten the Covid-19 prevention rules and protocols to prevent outbreaks at high-risk areas and also introduce clear guidelines for any indoor activities based on the size of the venue.

Improvements on targeted testing and regulating the costs of RTK-Antigen test kits could be useful measures in ensuring the industrial sector is able to afford large-scale worker testing.

Azmin said that balancing the protection of public health and the economy has been their priority since the first movement control order in March last year, but admitted this has been a “major challenge” due to the interconnected nature of the economy.

“It bears repeating that in our efforts towards fighting this pandemic, a host of unintended economic consequences were unleashed, not the least of which was the debilitating impact on the country’s gross domestic product,” he said, which contracted 17.1% last year.

He acknowledged the support his ministry had received from industry stakeholders and the public, and thanked the nation’s frontliners for their efforts to contain the spread of the virus.