COVID-19: Impact To Malaysia
Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is an infectious disease caused by the SARS-COV-2 virus. It was a novel pneumonia disease originating in Wuhan that was confirmed by the World Health Organization on January 12, 2020, before becoming an outbreak in all countries, including Malaysia.
The origin of the COVID-19 outbreak in Malaysia can be traced back to the first case arriving on Malaysian shores on January 25, 2020, when a passenger from China (en route via Singapore) tested positive for the virus.
Even though the case started on January 25, the country was so calm, acting like nothing had happened until March 16. It was when the former Prime Minister of Malaysia, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin announced a Movement Control Order (MCO) that was expected to last for only two weeks. During that MCO, all Malaysian were asked to stay at home for two weeks without going anywhere. As a result, chaos happened at almost all supermarkets all over the country. The citizens started to panic-buying everything until all the stocks were sold out. Not to mention, the price for a box of face masks at that time went up to 300% from the actual price. Talking about the daily cases, it was mostly not more than 10 for the first two weeks of MCO.
A poster from 2020 showing that MCO was extended
However, the number increased to two digits and started to reach four digits in a very short time. Therefore, the situation became worse when the actual period of two weeks was extended to several months before the PM made a new announcement telling that the MCO was changed to Conditional Movement Control Order (CMCO) on 4 May 2020. During this order, only one person from each family could leave their house to buy basic needs. The soldiers were seen everywhere on the road, making sure that the rules were followed by all the citizens.
ATM soldiers as front liners during MCO
The PM once again made an important announcement on 10 June 2020 when Recovery Movement Control Order (RMCO) was enforced. That was the phase when vaccines were given stage by stage to all Malaysian. This order also allowed the citizens of Malaysia to travel anywhere within Malaysia, as long as they follow the preventive steps against COVID-19, including sanitizing hands all the time, wearing face masks everywhere, and ensuring a 1-meter physical distance between individuals. That step was taken to improve the economic condition of the country which seemed to be in a difficult condition.
One of the most popular signs that we could see back in 2020
Even though the number of patients who suffered from COVID-19 showed no improvement, the government came up with an initiative that declared that each state will have a different kind of MCO, by referring to how the condition was in that particular state. Those states with critical numbers of infections would have a total lockdown, and those states that showed a minimum number of infections will be declared as RMCO states. This condition continued until all of the states showed major improvements in the number of infections.
No more face masks required in 2023
Today, we live in the year 2023, three years after the emergence of COVID-19. No more face masks, no more things to worry about. Everything went back to normal, as all things should be. 2020, 2021, and 2022 were difficult years for Malaysian. They were years of unforgettable memories, but hopefully, they would only remain as memories, not something that we should be facing again in the future.
