By Tang Pei Yi / Photos by interviewees
GEORGE TOWN: The Conditional Movement Control Order (CMCO) was less surprisingly extended for another four weeks until June 9, subject to further announcement. Many business sectors have resumed their daily operations but due to safety concerns, they are required to strictly follow the Standard Operation Procedure (SOP). The list of business sectors allowed to operate could be found on the website of the Ministry of International Trade and Industry as not all are permitted considering the difficulties in practising the established SOP or businesses that may attract a huge crowd.
Mr Arif Bahari Bin Mohamed Musli, a lecturer from Centre for Languages of Han Chiang University College of Communication (HCUC) is in line with the extension of CMCO as countries that abruptly eased their lockdown measures have resulted in a severe backlash where the number of positive Covid-19 cases began to increase again. Thus, he believes the extension is a wise move to contain the infection.
Arif Bahari is an outdoor person who enjoys group and physical activities. They were part of his lifestyle but the implementation of CMCO has definitely affected his routine. As far as work is concerned, he feels that it is slightly challenging and unusual to lecture from home because the interaction is screen to screen. However, it certainly helps during this crisis as safety of everyone is crucial at this point of time.
He believes that CMCO may help to ease the financial burden of the people whose work nature demands physical presence such as the hawkers who depend largely on daily earnings.
Maying Choong May Yee, a student pursuing Diploma in Mass Communication agrees with the extension of CMCO to prevent the virus from spreading.
She said she will not be careless as the virus is still active in various parts of Malaysia.
“Although I stay in Penang and it is a green zone, we still need to stay hygiene and practise social distancing when I am outdoor,” she said.
“Because of the Covid-19 pandemic, we are forced to study and learn at home via e-learning, it affects both my studies and daily routine. Studying via e-learning is especially difficult because my WiFi connection is sporadic,” she added.
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