The Federation of Private Medical Practitioners’ Association Malaysia (FPMPAM) said any move to tighten the current “total lockdown” now would be meaningless as it should have been imposed more strictly from the onset.
FPMPAM president Dr Steven Chow said the economic impact of tightening the lockdown under the present circumstances would be devastating, and instead called for relaxations to the MCO.
Although advocating for some leeway to be given to economic sectors, he maintained that strict SOPs should be put in place.
“To tighten the screws now is clearly a late knee-jerk response as the economy will be badly affected. The numbers have not come down sufficiently despite the fact that we are not doing enough tests.
“In fact, our testing standard is below the World Health Organization’s (WHO) standards. (The rise in sporadic cases) is not surprising as the virus spreads within households, communities and districts,” he said.
Chow added that the vaccination programme should be expedited, pointing out that private general practitioners were being deterred from taking part in the roll-out due to the bureaucracy in the registration process.
Former deputy health minister Dr Lee Boon Chye also said the lockdown implemented since June 1 had failed to bring down Covid-19 cases, pointing out that the majority of clusters were coming from workplaces.
These clusters, particularly those in factories, then led to infections among the community and caused sporadic cases, he said.
Lee added that it was highly possible that the spread of Covid-19 in factory clusters was in workers’ hostels or when they were travelling to their workplaces.
“Health officers can conduct spot checks on factories or construction sites to see if they are adhering to the SOPs. But how about the situation in the hostels, which is after they return from work?” he asked, adding that hostels’ living conditions needed to be improved.
He echoed Chow in advising the government against enforcing a stricter lockdown, but instead proposed that enhanced MCOs be imposed on localities with high Covid-19 cases.