While our hearts and souls want the 14-day total lockdown to be lifted, the rising COVID-19 deaths in the country suggest that an extension is inevitable.
According to a report by The Star, a source confirmed this as well.
“When the government first decided on the lockdown, we knew it was unlikely we would be able to bring the pandemic to a controllable level in two weeks. This was also discussed then (when we decided on the first phase), but we decided to go for two weeks first.
“The NSC would now have to decide, based on facts and figures, if an extension is needed to save lives but we would also have to look at saving livelihoods, which is another worry in the current economic downturn, ” said the source to The Star.
An NSC meeting is scheduled to happen today but ministers including Senior Minister and Defence Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob, International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Seri Azmin Ali and others remained tight-lipped on what would be discussed.
Be mentally prepared for a lockdown extension
While statistics show a decline in new COVID-19 cases, the number has not dropped below 4,000 a day as yet.Yesterday (11 June), we had 5,671 new cases and 73 deaths.
In summary, we all just have to be mentally prepared for an extension of the lockdown or maybe a slightly relaxed lockdown.
It may be the only way to bring numbers down and keep more Malaysians from dying.