Travel within the country of Malaysia has come to a dead halt from the 13th January 2021 to the 26th of January 2021. This is so that they can stop the rising of number of corona patients in the country. Apart from the ban in travel within the country such things as mass gathering are also banned in all states except the 2 states of Sarawak and Perlis where there is a low number of recorded Covid cases, this does not mean these 2 states can have mass gathering but rather a limited amount according to the procedures of Covid.
Apart from the travel trade it seems that business that require you to be present will so be impacted by this emergency lockdown as well.
There are high risk states which are Penang, Selangor, Melaka, Johor, Federal Territories of Kuala Lumpur, Labuan, Sabah and Putrajaya will all face further travel restriction.
The Movement Control Order will begin in these above mentioned states and it will be similar to the ones imposed from March 18th to the 4th of May in 2020 where the residents were only allowed 10km from their home and only 2 people to leave to purchase good and groceries.
Malaysian Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin addressed the nation in a televised speech stating that the government is taking this strict measure so that they can curb the amount of infected patients in country and that their health care is at a breaking point.
As of January 11th 2021 Malaysia has confirmed 2232 cases of Covid 19 and four deaths. Even though the people in the travel and tourism trade understand why the government is doing what they are ding they also urge that the government understand that the industry in itself has taken a massive blow.
Malaysian Association of Hotels CEO, Yap Lip Seng, said: “We need to stress on the need for the government to make the right decision in balancing lives (and) livelihood. With the…MCO implementations, businesses are again expected to lose all revenue streams. The government must support the industry and its people. With little or no revenue, businesses will not be able to retain its people, will not be able to pay salaries, and will have no option but to let go of its employees.”
The heads of the hotel industry is urging the government to heed what Yap is explaining as the industry will not be able to survive another massive hit and will likely have to shut down. This is not positive for the vast amount of people that are given employment by the industry.
