Malaysiakini interview: MySejahtera data shows more check-ins during lockdown than MCO 3.0 (16 Aug)

Title: MySejahtera data shows more check-ins during lockdown than MCO 3.0

Lim: Lockdown didn't achieve the desired effect

Public health policy researcher Lim Chee Han told Malaysiakini in an interview that even the most stringent lockdown did not appear to have achieved its desired effect.

Lim, a senior researcher at the Third World Network, said for the long period of the total lockdown, Selangorians only managed to reduce their activities or interactions by about a quarter while the number of locations open was reduced by 20 to 30 percent, compared to the mid-April peak activity level.

“The people’s activity level peaked in mid-April and then Covid-19 cases were also picking up from there, leading to the MCO 3.0 being firstly implemented in the six districts in Selangor,” Lim said.

He said in Selangor and Kuala Lumpur, the MCO 3.0 and total lockdown periods brought activity level down to at most 50 percent but this later crept back up while the total lockdown had a milder reduction of about 25 percent until the enhanced MCO dented it a little.

According to Lim's ground observation in the Petaling district, one of the districts with the highest daily Covid-19 cases in the country, the trend is similar to the MySejahtera data for the lockdown period.

“Even if I don’t go out that much and work from home, with at the most twice-weekly trips for grocery shopping, I notice the condominium residents car park is increasingly vacant during the day, ” he said.

He also noticed that traffic flow on the Federal Highway was getting heavier by day, parking lots in front of shop lots getting filled up faster and an increasing number of roadside stalls selling takeaway food.

“Hence the so-called measure stringency of any MCO can only be true and effective if there is total compliance and strict enforcement from the authority,” Lim stressed.

Nonetheless, he reminded that the numbers for check-ins using MySejahtera cannot serve as an absolute number for people active outside of their homes, though it still can be useful as an indicator for the level of people’s interactions and activities outside.

“For example, if you stay home and order food or grocery by delivery, then delivery persons will have to sign in, undermining the reality that many do stay at home or work from home,” he said.

Full article: here