PETALING JAYA,Feb 17: The government has to take another look at its ban on inter-district travel, especially in bordering townships where it is easier to obey the 10km radius limit, a health expert says,
Former deputy health minister Dr Lee Boon Chye said there are many places where motorists would not know when one district end and the other begins as there are no clear demarcation of boundaries.
“This is clearly a top-down decision without taking into account the views of people at the ground,” he told FMT, referring to the government’s decision to lift the 10km radius but keep the cross-border ban.
The government also announced yesterday that Kuala Lumpur, Selangor, Penang and Johor remains under mpovement control order (MCO) till March 4.
There are many places in the country where the borders are blurred. For instance, the Ampang township is in Selangor but Jalan Ampang is in Kuala Lumpur. Other main roads that divide Kuala Lumpur from Selangor include Old Klang Road and Jalan Universiti.
“There are several main roads that motorists need to take to cross borders within Kuala Lumpur and Selangor,” Lee said.
He said only police would know the exact demarcation of the districts.
The Kampar PKR MP also said the Covid-19 numbers are still high with over 2,000 cases reported daily, which shows that the MCO 2.0, which started on Jan 13, has failed to bring down the numbers drastically.
“The authorities cannot be imposing MCO after MCO or keep extending it,” he said.
Lee said the people cannot be waiting for a lockdown to be extended without knowing when it will end.
“People need to plan. Businesses need to plan on sales and volume,” he said.
In Auckland, he said, the New Zealand government had imposed a three-day total lockdown as they had the capability to do contact tracing.
He said there are still no clear signs from Malaysian authorities to improve contact tracing within 48 hours.
“They need to go back to the basics to carry out contact tracing within 48 hours or there will be no end to the MCOs,” he said.
Lee also questioned the difference between conditional MCO (CMCO) and MCO, as people are still confused over the standard operating procedures.
Yesterday, senior minister for security Ismail Sabri Yaakob said Kedah, Perak, Negeri Sembilan, Melaka, Pahang, Terengganu, Kelantan and the federal territories of Putrajaya and Labuan will go under CMCO from Feb 19 until March 4.
Perlis, meanwhile, will be under recovery movement control order during the period.
