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Selasa, 01 Juni 2021

Kuala Lumpur turns into ghost town as Malaysia goes into full Covid-19 lockdown - The Straits Times

KUALA LUMPUR - The usually busy streets in and out of Kuala Lumpur were quiet, with malls and office buildings shuttered on Tuesday (June 1), on the first day of a two-week-long full lockdown in Malaysia.

The full movement control order (FMCO) was imposed to flatten the infection curve after record numbers of daily Covid-19 cases last week.

Only essential economic and service sectors listed by the National Security Council were still open, including wet markets and supermarkets, which are operating on shorter hours.

With dine-in services prohibited, some have flocked to fast-food chains that offer drive-through services.

"It's more convenient for me to just buy at a drive-through instead of having to park. This way, I can limit my interaction and contact with people," customer service agent Hazriq Rasdi, 28, told The Straits Times as he waited for his order at a Starbucks located on the Federal Highway in Subang Jaya.

This is the second time the country has gone into a nationwide lockdown. It is to stem a third wave of Covid-19 infections that saw 9,020 new cases last Saturday, the highest number of daily cases recorded.

It was the fifth straight day of record new infections. To date, a total of 2,796 have died.

The latest restrictions mirror those imposed between March and May last year in the early months of the pandemic in the country.

The FMCO, which Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin announced last Friday, will be in force until June 14.

Most economic and social activities have been barred with people limited to travelling within a 10km radius of their homes. Only two per household will be allowed to leave their homes to buy essentials.

Interstate and interdistrict travel have been prohibited.

Essential businesses, such as food and beverage outlets, banking and e-commerce, are allowed to operate but with strict measures in place.

Ms Siti Najwa Halim, a personal shopper for a retail supermarket chain in Selangor, said there has been a surge in online orders since the restrictions kicked in.

"I saw fewer than four walk-in customers on Tuesday morning. Most customers are opting for our personal shopping services since there is a limit to how many persons can enter our premises. It's also out of convenience," she told ST.

Although supermarkets can remain open, with a cap on the number who can shop, checks by ST showed most were empty.

The majority of people visiting the malls were food and grocery delivery riders.

Although traffic in and out of the city was relatively light, several areas in Klang Valley experienced slow-moving traffic, the Kuala Lumpur City Hall's Integrated Transport Information System showed.

It was unclear if the congestion was the result of police roadblocks set up to monitor the movement restriction order.

Inspector-General of Police Acryl Sani Abdullah Sani had announced on Monday that the authorities would set up 800 roadblocks nationwide, especially near fringes of towns where compliance to the FMCO might be low.

There would also be mobile roadblocks activated to discourage travel during the full lockdown.

"We will also increase spot checks outside the city due to the rate of compliance there being lower," he had told reporters on Monday.

Vietnam says seeking to produce COVID-19 vaccines to supply COVAX initiative - CNA

HANOI: Vietnam is seeking to buy COVID-19 vaccine production technology and wants to build a plant to supply the COVAX programme, its health ministry said on Tuesday (Jun 1), as the country tries to step up vaccinations to stem a new outbreak of infections.

India and South Africa are among developing countries that have been pushing for an intellectual property waiver for COVID-19 vaccines. But even with a surprise US shift last month to support a waiver World Trade Organization talks on the issue on Monday failed to achieve a breakthrough.

"Vietnam would build the plant and would like to receive the patent so it could supply vaccines to COVAX, to other countries as well as to Vietnam," the ministry said in a statement, following a meeting with COVAX representatives overnight.

Vietnam on Monday also pushed for private procurement of vaccines, as it races to secure supplies and tackle an outbreak that has seen its cases more than double in the past month.

READ: Vietnam halts inbound international flights, tightens measures as COVID-19 cases surge

The country of about 98 million people has so far received 2.9 million doses, including 2.6 million doses via COVAX, but is lagging many neighbours in its vaccination drive.

"Vietnam hopes the COVAX facility will speed up its provision of vaccines to Vietnam," Minister of Health Nguyen Thanh Long said in the statement.

"Vietnam also hopes international organisations and other countries help it access COVID-19 vaccines," Long said.

The Southeast Asian country has managed to contain the virus better than many countries though an outbreak that started last month has proved harder to stamp out,

The Ministry of Health reported 111 new COVID-19 infections on Tuesday morning, raising the total number of cases to 7,432, with 47 deaths.

BOOKMARK THIS: Our comprehensive coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic and its developments

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2021-06-01 04:29:37Z
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Senin, 31 Mei 2021

Commentary: With federal and state governments involved, are there too many cooks in Malaysia's vaccine drive? - CNA

SINGAPORE: Launched in February, Malaysia’s COVID-19 vaccination drive aims to reach 80 per cent of its population by February next year.

To this end, the federal government has set aside funds to procure 66.7 million doses – more than enough to inoculate every Malaysian – and rolled out a three-phase vaccination drive.

Targeting 500,000 front-liners, the first was completed in April. The second phase kicked in that month and runs to August, targeting 9.4 million over-60s as well as vulnerable people.

The final stage caters to the rest of the population and is slated to begin soon.

READ: Malaysia to enter 'total lockdown' from Jun 1 to Jun 14 as daily number of COVID-19 cases hits new record

READ: Commentary: Little wonder why Malaysians are angry over celebrity Neelofa’s repeated COVID-19 breaches

Rolling out a vaccination drive in a country as large and diverse as Malaysia is no mean feat. To its credit, the federal government has dealt with some challenges nimbly.

For example, following scares about potential side effects from the AstraZeneca vaccine, the national campaign made these jabs available through a separate voluntary scheme. The main vaccination drive has continued, and the AstraZeneca component has enjoyed record take-up since.

Nonetheless, the national vaccination drive is proceeding slower than anticipated. According to the National COVID Immunisation Programme (JKJAV), as of May 27, 11 million people had registered for the vaccine, and 1.7 million people had received at least one dose.

This means that three months after the vaccination drive’s launch, only about 5.3 per cent of the country’s population has been reached.

One reason relates to procurement, as the vaccines are delivered on a quarterly basis, and there have been some delays.

Virus Outbreak Malaysia — A health worker shows the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine at a vaccination center in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Wednesday, May 5, 2021. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian)

Another is linked to a low vaccination rate. Up until early May, the pace fluctuated between 20,000-30,000 doses administered per day. The campaign has subsequently picked up speed with at least 70,000 daily shots since May 20.

Registration and coverage rates vary across the country. According to the JKJAV, geographically smaller states and territories such as Putrajaya, Labuan and Perlis have had a high number of residents registered and vaccinated.

The larger states of Selangor, Sarawak, Penang and Johor have been lagging on a per capita basis, even if the number vaccinated is high.

READ: Commentary: Malaysia’s nationwide MCO - denial, doubts and divisions threaten effectiveness

STATE GOVERNMENTS TAKE CHARGE

Feeling under-protected and eager to avoid more lockdowns, some state governments have decided to roll out their own vaccination drives. According to the Malaysian Constitution, state governments are, along with the federal government, jointly responsible for public health, sanitation and the prevention of disease.

To this end, state governments can use their own budgets, tap into networks with local communities and leverage their deeper knowledge of local conditions.

READ: Commentary: COVID-19 unlikely to become a thing of the past anytime soon

Earlier this month, Khairy Jamaluddin – the Minister of Science, Technology, and Innovation and also the Coordinating Minister of the National Vaccination Campaign – clarified the conditions under which state governments can procure and administer vaccines.

First, they need to apply to the National Pharmaceutical Regulatory Agency (NPRA) for approval.

Second, they can only source NPRA-approved vaccines.

Third, in the event of a conflict with the central government over vaccines from the same source, the federal vaccine drive must be given priority.

SELANGOR, SARAWAK AND PENANG

To date, three state governments have sought to secure their own vaccines. Collectively, they illustrate the benefits and perils of having more cooks in the kitchen.

Selangor, Malaysia’s economic powerhouse, announced that it was allocating RM100 million (US$24.2 million) to procure 2.5 million doses of an undisclosed type of vaccine.

Beginning in June, its scheme will target larger employers, who will pay RM190 per dose for their employees. To date, more than 3,500 employers and one million employees have expressed interest in participating.

This initiative is interesting, as it marshals additional resources from corporations happy to reduce the potential cost of workplace lockdowns. Through reducing the number of people waiting for federally-funded vaccines, it can help shorten waiting times.

READ: Commentary: Najib Razak’s fine and a tale of double standards in Malaysia

The Sarawak state government has procured 1 million doses of the Sinovac vaccine. In this case, the state government is tapping into its cash reserves in order to make the jabs available free to all Sarawakians.

The state government also has important networks in rural areas and deeper knowledge of local conditions. Thus, it will send out mobile teams to visit rural communities.

Given the logistical difficulties of repeat visits, the vaccine will be administered to all eligible people in a location – as opposed to the standard phased approach.

READ: Commentary: Malaysians in lockdown coo over pictures of returning wildlife – but there’s more than meets the eye

The Penang government offers a less positive example. In February, a businessman offered to donate two million doses of the Sinovac vaccine to the state government on behalf of a Hong Kong-based investment firm.

The federal Health Ministry rejected Penang’s request as, at that time, Sinovac had yet to be approved. In mid-May, the current and former Chief Ministers of Penang criticised the federal government for blocking the donation.

Khairy Jamaluddin subsequently charged that the offer was “bogus”, revealing that Sinovac had no record of the order. The Penang state government has since stated that it will use its own funds to procure additional vaccines.

READ: Commentary: How COVID-19 vaccines are being weaponised as countries jostle for influence

Going forward, other state governments may feel pressured to follow their more independent-minded brethren. In addition to ensuring that they do not all seek to procure vaccines from the same sources, state governments will need to think about how they can leverage their inherent advantages to add value to the existing vaccine effort.

Should this not be the case, the cooks will produce a cold and unsatisfying broth.

Listen to Malaysians share how they have been coping amid a wave of COVID-19 infections in CNA's Heart of the Matter podcast:

Francis E Hutchinson is Senior Fellow and coordinator of the Malaysia Studies Programme at the ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute. This article was first published by ISEAS – Yusof Ishak Institute as a commentary in Fulcrum.

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2021-05-31 22:11:40Z
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No foreign interference, says China, as Australia, New Zealand unite over human rights - The Straits Times

BEIJING - China said on Monday (May 31) it was firmly opposed to foreign interference after Australia and New Zealand, presenting a united front, expressed concerns over China's actions in Hong Kong and the north-western Xinjiang region.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin made the comment at a regular press briefing in Beijing in response to a question about the meeting between the prime ministers of Australia and New Zealand.

It was the first time they had met in person since the pandemic began 15 months ago.

China was the main topic at the post-meeting conference in Queenstown on Monday by Mr Scott Morrison and Ms Jacinda Ardern, who highlighted developments in Hong Kong and Xinjiang as issues of concern, as well as the South China Sea, where China has continued to assert its dominance.

"The prime ministers expressed serious concern over developments in the South China Sea, including the continued militarisation of disputed features and an intensification of destabilising activities at sea," said a joint statement released after the meeting.

Asked about the stance of New Zealand, whose ties with China have strengthened, Ms Ardern said her country and Australia had "broadly been positioned in exactly the same place" over human rights in Hong Kong and Xinjiang.

In April, Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta drew some criticism from Western nations when she said New Zealand was uncomfortable expanding its invocation of the Five Eyes alliance with Australia, Canada, the UK and the US beyond intelligence matters into wider policy statements.

Australia and New Zealand have starkly different bilateral ties with Beijing: Relations between China and Australia have reached their lowest point in years, with disagreements on an array of issues, including trade and diplomacy. Wellington has enjoyed relatively warmer ties, but has faced accusations across the Tasman Sea as being soft and having sold out to China.

Meanwhile, the Chinese authorities conducted a separate press briefing on Monday, focusing on human rights developments in the past five years.

China has aggressively hit back at criticism, insisting that it has a different definition of human rights from the West. Beijing considers poverty alleviation and improving its citizens' standards of living as rights to economic development.

"A happy life for the people is the greatest human right," said Mr Li Xiaojun of the State Council Information Office's Human Rights Bureau.

"The implementation of the action plan has brought the protection of the economic, social and cultural rights of the Chinese people to a new level," he told the media in Beijing.

China has achieved poverty reduction goals of the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development a decade ahead of schedule, Mr Li said, adding that the Chinese people "enjoy extensive and true democracy and freedom".

Officials also pointed to China's participation in the United Nations Human Rights Council.

"China advocates human rights dialogue and cooperation on the basis of equality and mutual respect, opposes the politicisation of human rights and double standards, and opposes human rights interference in internal affairs," said the foreign ministry's special representative for human rights, Ms Li Xiaomei.

Beijing has come under widespread criticism from foreign governments and rights groups over its treatment of the ethnic Uighur population in Xinjiang.

Over one million are believed to have been detained in camps, which China insists are vocational training facilities to help the Muslim Uighur population escape poverty.

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2021-05-31 15:07:02Z
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PM Muhyiddin unveils RM40 billion economic stimulus package as Malaysia is set to enter total lockdown - CNA

KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysian Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin unveiled a new economic stimulus package worth RM40 billion (US$9.7 billion) on Monday (May 31), in an attempt to mitigate the impacts of an impending total lockdown.

Speaking during a televised national address, Mr Muhyiddin said the package – named Strategic Programme to Empower the People and Economy (Pemerkasa) Plus – will aim to increase the capacity of public hospitals to treat COVID-19 patients, to support continuity of businesses and to help the people.

He said that RM450 million will be used to increase the capacity of beds in intensive care units and equipment for COVID-19 treatment, while RM550 million will be allocated to cover the expenses related to increased operating and management costs in dealing with the health crisis.

On extending help to Malaysians directly, he said RM2.1 billion will be distributed to lower-income households earning less than RM5,000 per month.

"This is mainly to ensure the well-being and survival of the vulnerable, as well as to ensure that workers who depend on daily wages can continue to be assisted. They are expected to be among the most affected following the enforcement of the lockdown," said Mr Muhyiddin.

FILE PHOTO: APEC Economic Leaders Meeting 2020, in Kuala Lumpur — FILE PHOTO: Malaysia?s Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin arrives for virtual APEC Economic Leaders Meeting 2020, in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia November 20, 2020. REUTERS/Lim Huey Teng

In addition, he said that an optional loan moratorium would be offered to the bottom 40 per cent group and people who have lost their jobs, as well as micro-entrepreneurs and small and medium enterprises (SMEs) which are not able to operate during the MCO.

He also announced a RM500 one-off special cash aid for 17,000 tour guides, 40,000 taxi drivers, 11,000 school bus drivers, 4,000 express bus drivers as well as 62,000 e-hailing drivers.

The financial aid, totaling RM68 million, would be transferred to registered recipients in July.

However, Mr Muhyiddin acknowledged that the government has limited finances to spare at the moment.

"I would like to be frank, the government has limited fiscal power to spend at this time. However for the sake of the people's welfare, the government will strive to find a balance between lives and livelihood ... to enable people to survive for the duration of this MCO (movement control order)," said Mr Muhyiddin.

In concluding his speech, Mr Muhyiddin added that ministers and deputy ministers will not be drawing salaries from June to August, as a show of support for the country's fight against COVID-19.

"The salaries will be channelled to the country's disaster trust account to fund COVID-19 related expenses," he said.

Prior to Monday's announcement, Putrajaya had rolled out six stimulus packages worth a total of RM340 billion.

READ: Malaysia to enter 'total lockdown' from Jun 1 to Jun 14 as daily number of COVID-19 cases hits new record

READ: Measures in place to ensure no food supply chain disruption during total lockdown, says Malaysian minister

Malaysia is grappling to curb the recent rise in COVID-19 cases. The country enters a two-week lockdown from Tuesday, during which malls will be shut while only 17 essential service sectors will be allowed to operate. These sectors include healthcare, telecommunications and media, food and beverage, utilities as well as banking.

FILE PHOTO: People receive AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine at a vaccination centre in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia May 5, 2021. REUTERS/Lim Huey Teng

On Saturday, Malaysia reported 9,020 new COVID-19 cases, its highest daily toll since the start of the pandemic. It was the fifth straight day of record new infections.

On Monday, there were 6,425 new cases. There are now more than 570,000 cases nationwide. A total of 2,796 people have died from COVID-19 in Malaysia.

In a May 23 interview, Mr Muhyiddin said that while a full lockdown would guarantee people’s safety, there is a risk that the economy could collapse .

BOOKMARK THIS: Our comprehensive coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic and its developments

Download our app or subscribe to our Telegram channel for the latest updates on the coronavirus outbreak: https://cna.asia/telegram

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2021-05-31 14:06:58Z
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PM Muhyiddin unveils RM40 billion economic stimulus package as Malaysia is set to enter total lockdown - CNA

This is mainly to ensure the well-being and survival of the vulnerable, as well as ensure workers who depend on daily wages can continue to be assisted. They are expected to be among the most affected following the enforcement of the lockdown.

However, he acknowledged that the government has limited finances to spare at the present moment.

In his speech, Mr Muhyiddin added that ministers and deputy ministers will not be drawing salaries from June to September this year.

Prior to Monday's announcement, Putrajaya had rolled out six stimulus packages worth a total of RM340 billion.

READ: Malaysia to enter 'total lockdown' from Jun 1 to Jun 14 as daily number of COVID-19 cases hits new record

READ: Measures in place to ensure no food supply chain disruption during total lockdown, says Malaysian minister

On Saturday, Malaysia reported 9,020 new COVID-19 cases, its highest daily toll since the start of the pandemic. It was the fifth straight day of record new infections.

On Monday, there were 6,425 new cases. There are now more than 570,000 cases nationwide. A total of 2,796 people have died from COVID-19 in Malaysia.

In a May 23 interview, Mr Muhyiddin said that while a full lockdown would guarantee people’s safety, there is a risk that the economy could collapse .

BOOKMARK THIS: Our comprehensive coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic and its developments

Download our app or subscribe to our Telegram channel for the latest updates on the coronavirus outbreak: https://cna.asia/telegram

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Three-child policy: China lifts cap on births in major policy shift - The Straits Times

BEIJING (REUTERS) - Married Chinese couples may have up to three children, China announced on Monday (May 31), in a major shift from the existing limit of two after recent data showed a dramatic decline in births in the world’s most populous country.

Beijing scrapped its decades-old one-child policy in 2016, replacing it with a two-child limit to try and stave off risks to its economy from a rapidly aging population. But that failed to result in a sustained surge in births given the high cost of raising children in Chinese cities, a challenge that persists to this day.

The policy change will come with “supportive measures, which will be conducive to improving our country’s population structure, fulfilling the country’s strategy of actively coping with an ageing population”, the official Xinhua news agency said following a politburo meeting chaired by President Xi Jinping.

Among those measures, China will lower educational costs for families, step up tax and housing support, guarantee the legal interests of working women and clamp down on “sky-high” dowries, it said, without giving specifics. It would also look to educate young people “on marriage and love”.

China had a fertility rate of just 1.3 children per woman in 2020, recent data showed, on par with ageing societies like Japan and Italy and far short of the roughly 2.1 needed for replacement level.

“People are held back not by the two-children limit, but by the incredibly high costs of raising children in today’s China.

Housing, extracurricular activities, food, trips, and everything else add up quickly,” Yifei Li, a sociologist at NYU Shanghai, told Reuters.

“Raising the limit itself is unlikely to tilt anyone’s calculus in a meaningful way, in my view.” In a poll on Xinhua’s Weibo account asking #AreYouReady for the three-child policy, about 29,000 of 31,000 respondents said they would “never think of it” while the remainder chose among the options: “I’m ready and very eager to do so”, “it’s on my agenda”, or “I’m hesitating and there’s lot to consider”.

The poll was later removed.

“I am willing to have three children if you give me 5 million yuan (S$1 million),” one user posted.

Share prices in birth- and fertility-related companies surged.

‘Too late now'

Early this month, a once-in-a-decade census showed that the population grew at its slowest rate during the last decade since the 1950s, to 1.41 billion, fueling concerns that China would grow old before it gets wealthy as well as criticism that it had waited too long to address declining births.

“This is without a doubt a step in the right direction, but still it’s a bit timid,” Shuang Ding, chief economist at Standard Chartered in Hong Kong, told Reuters.

“A fully liberalised birth policy should have been implemented at least five years ago, but it’s too late now, although its better late than never,” he said.

China’s politburo also said on Monday that it would phase in delays in retirement ages, but did not provide any details.

Fines of 130,000 yuan ($26,986) were being imposed on people for having a third child as of late last year, according to a government notice in the city of Weihai.

Fearing a population explosion, in 1979 China implemented its one-child policy, which succeeded in curbing population growth but also led to coerced sterilisations and sex-selective abortions that exacerbated a gender imbalance as many parents preferred male children.

A study published earlier this year by academics from Hangzhou University found that the two-child policy encouraged wealthier couples who already had a child and were “less sensitive to child-rearing costs”, while driving up the costs of child care and education and discouraging first-time parents.

“I’m super happy,” said Su Meizhen, a human resources manager in Beijing, who is pregnant with her third child.

“We won’t have to pay the fine and we’ll be able to get a hukou,” she said, referring to the urban residence permit that enables families to receive benefits including sending their children to local public schools.

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2021-05-31 10:24:28Z
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Selasa, 01 Juni 2021

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Senin, 31 Mei 2021

‘Too late now'