The government is already working on an exit plan to propel Malaysia out of the COVID-19 pandemic according to Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin. Also referred to as the National Recovery Plan, it will be presented to the National Security Council (MKN) next week.
PM Muhyiddin stated that the plan is based on data and science as well as preparations that have been in place including the management of COVID-19 cases, economy, vaccination program and others. He has also revealed that some of the key ministers have presented draft plans to him but they still need to be refined further.
For what it is worth, the statement today didn’t provide a clear picture of what the plan is all about though although PM Muhyiddin did say that the government intends to inform the people about the phases within the National Recovery Plan. In addition to that, he also admitted that it will be a huge challenge and will depend on the cooperation of everyone to make sure that the plan is a success.
On related news, Senior Defence Minister, Ismail Sabri Yaakob has said that the government will review the existing SOPs once the daily number of COVID-19 cases are reduced to 4,000 which could be a hopeful achievement by next week.
However, the minister insisted that this does not mean that the ongoing implementation of Movement Control Order (MCO) 3.0 would be concluded. Instead, the government may relax some of the restrictions although this pretty much depends on the Ministry of Health’s recommendations to MKN.
As for the actual conclusion of MCO, this may take place only after at least 60% of the population have been vaccinated. Minister Ismail revealed that a special meeting to discuss MCO’s exit strategy will take place once we reach that point.
Jumlah pemberian kumulatif vaksin setakat 12 Jun
Daftar untuk vaksinasi: https://t.co/m1joWOSGde#LindungDiriLindungSemua pic.twitter.com/ysCIYY9y72
— Vaksin COVID-19 🇲🇾 (@JKJAVMY) June 13, 2021
According to statistics provided by the Special Committee on COVID-19 Vaccine Supple (JKJAV), only around 3 million people have received their first dose of COVID-19 vaccine so far, up till 11:59 PM of 12 June.
Based on that alone, it seems that Malaysia’s journey to achieve herd immunity could take a long while. That being said though, PM Muhyiddin has previously expressed his confidence that 80% of the population will be vaccinated by the end of 2021.
(Source: WK TV / YouTube, Astro Awani / YouTube, Bernama – [1],[2]. Image: PM Muhyiddin Yassin / Facebook, ATM / Twitter.)
