On 9th October 2020, the Malaysian Health Ministry announced that Malaysia is currently entering the 3rd wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. As of 11th November 2020, there are a total of 51,680  COVID-19 cases in Malaysia, breakdown into 326 Death cases, 13,222 cases in Hospitalisation and 38,132  Recovered cases. The COVID-19 cases nationwide rose sharply since 2nd October 2020, resulting from a large percentage of local transmissions.

Malaysia’s rising in the number of COVID-19 cases is mainly concentrated in Sabah and Sarawak, East Malaysia. As of 5th November 2020, Sabah and Sarawak recorded total COVID-19 cases of 18,083 and 942 respectively, which is over 50% of the total COVID-19 cases in Malaysia. The spike in COVID-19 cases in Sabah, East Malaysia was aggravated by the two-week state election campaign and an outbreak of the COVID-19 at a detention centre in Sabah which houses illegal immigrants from the Philippines and Indonesia.

To effectively control the current COVID-19 situation, the Malaysian Government has implemented different levels of Movement Control Order (MCO) in the areas with the presence of COVID-19 cases, depending on the number of active cases in the area.

Due to the increasing COVID-19 cases, Malaysia has implemented a four-week Conditional Movement Control Order (CMCO) in all states in the peninsula except Pahang, Perlis and Kelantan from 9 November to 6 December, Senior Minister (Security Cluster) Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob announced at a press conference on 7 November. He said: "The enforcement of this CMCO will enable MOH to conduct targeted screenings and reduce movements in the community, apart from curbing the spread of COVID-19 in these states."

In line with this new development, the CMCO in Kuala Lumpur, Selangor, Putrajaya, and Sabah will also be extended. The standard operating procedure (SOP) for the CMCO remains the same as previously announced.

Resouces :

1. CORONA VIRUS – The situation in Malaysia https://www.flandersinvestmentandtrade.com/export/nieuws/corona-virus-%E2%80%93-situation-malaysia
2. Malaysia implements four-week CMCO in most states starting 9 November https://www.humanresourcesonline.net/malaysia-implements-four-week-cmco-in-most-states-starting-9-november

Date of Input: 30/11/2020 | Updated: 04/12/2020 | aslamiah