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There's no need for a 'lockdown'

Mar 16, 2020

The government says its not appropriate to use the term 'lockdown', when describing anything to do with the Covid-19 outbreak.

It says the term can cause unnecessary panic, at at time when Malaysians should be staying calm. 

This, after the hashtag 'lockdown' started trending on Twitter, in the wake of a campaign to encourage Malaysians to stay home to curb the spread of the coronavirus.

Meanwhile, we spoke to respiratory specialist Dr Kow Ken Siong, who informed us that a lockdown is not necessary for Malaysia at the moment:

"If a lockdown is introduced too early, they are less likely to work when needed. For any medical intervention to work, it must be tolerable and must not cause too much disruption to life. A lockdown would be extreme and the longer such measures go on, the less likely people will stick to it, these measures may be needed, but currently we are seeing a much more gradual increase in number of cases. Unlike the situation in Wuhan, where cases were concentrated in a single region which led to a lockdown there, this may not actually happen in Malaysia."

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PM, MOH and MinDef to hold special meeting on coronavirus situation

The Prime Minister will chair a special meeting today, in the wake of the latest Covid-19 developments. 

Representatives from the Health and Defense Ministries will also be present to discuss the government's next course of action.

This, after Malaysia saw its biggest single-day increase in new coronavirus cases yesterday. 

190 new infections were reported, bringing the total to 428.

Most of these new cases, are linked to the recent religious event at a Sri Petaling mosque.

Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Adham Baba says his officers are still trying to track down more of these attendees.