BATU PAHAT: There will no longer be a total lockdown of the economic and industrial sectors even if Covid-19 cases in the country were to increase significantly, said Senior Minister Datuk Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali

       Azmin, who is also International Trade and Industry (Miti) Minister, said the previous closure of the economic sectors had had a huge impact on the economy and the people.

       He said 826,000 people had lost their jobs in the first three months of the total lockdown in 2020.

       “When a person loses his job, it involves one family and one family may include four or five persons... and if the (total) lockdown were to continue, it will leave about five million Malaysians without any income.

       “We can’t do it any more (total lockdown)... yes, we need to manage this pandemic effectively, we will do our best on the health matter but ‘economic health’ is also important. We will now do it in a balanced way if there is a sudden spike (of Covid-19 cases),” he told Bernama after attending the Chinese New Year dinner hosted by the Batu Pahat Chinese Chamber of Commerce here, on Monday night.

       Azmin said Miti would take a targeted approach by closing only the industries affected and focus on getting employees vaccinated.

       He said that was the reason why the Covid-19 Public-Private Partnership (Pikas) Industrial Immunisation Programme was implemented, as Miti did not want the industries to close.

       “If the industries were to close, the country’s economy will continue to contract. Through Pikas, we have managed to vaccinate almost two million people,” he said.

       He said the initiatives were taken because the workers in the industrial and manufacturing sectors were at higher risks than other sectors, who still had the option of working from home.