Umno and the Malaysian Trades Union Congress (MTUC), in making this call, said this was preferable to imposing a blanket total lockdown nationwide.

Criticising the lockdown as a “lazy” and unfair way out of the pandemic, Umno vice-president Khaled Nordin asked how long the government planned to continue with the current iteration of the movement control order (MCO), which he described as half-baked and ineffective.

In a similar vein, MTUC deputy president Mohd Effendy Abdul Ghani urged Putrajaya not to continue imposing the total lockdown nationwide as this would be unfair to businesses and workers in areas with lower Covid-19 cases.

In a statement, Khaled said the data showed factories and industries were the main contributors to the rise in cases, adding that they were also the “blue-eyed boys” that got more leeway from the authorities.

He called for greater financial aid to be channelled to the affected people, urging the government to pay more attention to them as they were in a “critical condition”.

Effendy said targeted lockdowns had always been MTUC’s stand from the start, adding that small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and most workers were struggling right now.

Using Selangor as an example, he said removing the infections recorded from the state would lead to a significant drop in the number of daily cases reported nationwide, thus fulfilling Putrajaya’s 4,000-cases benchmark.

“Now, we’re getting many complaints of many workplace clusters in factories.

“On the other hand, small shops don’t have these clusters or cases, but they can’t open. Then more and more of these businesses will collapse.

“The government can impose a total lockdown. We’re fine with that if necessary to bring down the number of cases, but enforce it according to states.

“Delegate to the state governments to monitor the situation. Then they can advise the federal government,” he told FMT.

Effendy said there had been an increase in suicide cases of late, lamenting that people were struggling and could not last much longer under a lockdown.

He said daily wage earners, in particular, should be allowed to go back to work where possible, as they have totally lost any form of income during the lockdown.

Even barbers or shops in malls should be allowed to reopen, saying these sectors contributed very few Covid-19 clusters or cases.

“The government has to consider this because we’re talking about the survival of the rakyat here,” he said.

Effendy, who slammed proposals for the i-Sinar and i-Lestari withdrawal facilities in the Employees Provident Fund (EPF) to be extended, said the people should be getting aid from the government first before resorting to their own life savings.

“Allowing more EPF withdrawals will put the people in a more vulnerable position in the future as their savings would have already been depleted by the first two schemes.”

He called for an automatic loan moratorium to be given for six months and for B40 and M40 households to be given at least RM1,200 a month, which was the current minimum wage.

“That’s a must for their survival,” he said.

Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin today said the nationwide total lockdown would continue until daily Covid-19 cases drop to under 4,000, as part of the first phase of the National Recovery Plan.

Muhyiddin also said Putrajaya would be announcing more assistance measures geared towards all groups of society, either tomorrow or on Tuesday.