Watch the video here (Watch from 21:30 onwards into the Youtube video)
Produced by Astro Awani
Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin earlier today announced a national plan to exit the Covid-19 pandemic. The so-called National Recovery Plan is based on three primary indicators to open up the economy & the social sector in four phases. The indicators are: the number of daily Covid-19 cases; ICU bed occupancy rates; vaccination levels. But some are already criticising the plan as not going far enough. Is this what we expected from a proper “recovery” plan? Melisa Idris and Sharaad Kuttan speak to Raja Ahmad Iskandar Fareez, Communications Director, Research for Social Advancement (REFSA).
Summary
REFSA Communications Director, Iskandar Fareez shares with Consider This by ASTRO Awani on why the National Recovery Plan proposed by the government focuses too much on the short term and did not go far enough to face the dynamic challenges at hand. Going forward, he stresses constant reviewing of the Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) in light of new findings to ensure the sustainable return to a sense of normalcy.
“MCO by any other name will still hit us the same. We can’t be going in and out of the lockdowns throughout the year – if they’re not affected by the virus, they will then struggle to make ends meet. SOPs should be reviewed to enable people to resume their lives as close to normal as possible without endangering others” – Iskandar Fareez