Sin Chew Daily

As the country enters the fourth phase of MCO, the government has concurrently allowed certain economic sectors previously permitted to operate during MCO to go full capacity without time limits.

This announcement has indeed come as a big relief for relevant companies and is seen as a positive move to revive the country's economic vibrancy.

Allowing these economic sectors to operate in full capacity will help boost production and enhance the service supply chains to build up again previously affected inventories for efficient delivery to customers.

From the broader economic perspective, gradual opening up of economic sectors constitutes part of an essential exist strategy after phase 4 MCO.

As the coronavirus outbreak is slowly put under control, it is time to relax the bans in order to avert a major recession and aggravate the tide of business liquidations and hence a spike in unemployment.

Prime minister Muhyiddin Yassin has earlier said the MCO has put a brake on the national economy, causing the country to suffer a daily loss of RM2.4 billion, adding that extending the MCO to phase 4 has been a decision made out of no choice.

From the numbers reported daily, the MCO measures meant to restrict social activities and keep people at home to curb the spread of coronavirus has been proven effective. However, in order not to expand the economic losses and jeopardize the people's livelihood, it is absolutely necessary for the government to gradually relax MCO rules.

The curve of daily new positive COVID-19 cases has somewhat been flattened at this point of time, but that does not mean we have won the war against the virus. Gradual relaxation of restrictive rules doesn't mean we can let our guard down.

The health ministry has repeatedly reminded Malaysians that even though the MCO is eventually lifted, we still need to adapt to the "new normal" lifestyle, keeping good personal hygiene and observing social distancing rules.

In other words, economic sectors to be opened up must operate in full compliance with the SOPs drawn up by the health ministry to make sure all the staff can work in a safe and secure environment. Companies violating the SOPs will face the consequences of license revocation or legal actions, while a much bigger eventuality is the nullification of all the encouraging outcome we have obtained during more than a month of MCO.

Whether the MCO will be extended further depends on the companies which will resume full operation over the next two weeks, and whether Malaysians will cooperate with the government's exit strategy mechanism.

And since it is impossible for complete opening up, self discipline on the part of the public as well as companies is therefore very crucial.

In order to break the chain of infection while gradually restoring economic activities, many companies have voiced their willingness to comply with the SOPs for work resumption.

Nevertheless, many companies, in particular SMEs, have hoped that the government will look into the complexity in the procedures to apply for approval to resume full operation. They hope that government officials will understand the predicament encountered by SMEs in the country so that they will not have to face further difficulties in their operations.

Malaysia will eventually win this war against the virus if the public and companies cooperate fully with the government in observing the stipulated SOPs, so as to put the national economy on its feet again within the shortest time possible.