Chai said with strict standard operating procedures (SOP) in place, the government should ease restrictions for the non-essential business sector. – File photo
KUCHING (Aug 9): The Associated Chinese Chambers of Commerce and Industry Sarawak (ACCCIS) has urged the government to open up non-essential sector by allowing businesses with fully vaccinated employees to resume operations.
Its secretary-general Jonathan Chai said with strict standard operating procedures (SOP) in place, the government should ease restrictions for the non-essential business sector.
“In fact, ACCCIS together with other constituent members of the Associated Chinese Chambers of Commerce and Industry of Malaysia (ACCCIM) have called on the government to consider allowing all non-essential sectors either under Phase 1 or Phase 2 of the National Recovery Plan (NRP), to operate with at least 50 per cent manpower capacity,” he told The Borneo Post today.
Chai lamented that many businesses are already in dire straits after more than two months of lockdown and strict containment measures amid the accelerated Covid-19 vaccination programme.
According to him, many businesses are struggling to stay afloat due to either zero or slumped revenue while continuing to incur fixed operating expenses.
“The prolonged lockdown and inoperative of businesses have pushed many struggling companies with cash flow and financial difficulties over the edge and into closing down or in the bankruptcy process.
“A deep concern is that the longer restricted containment measures, the economic damage would be more long-lasting and irreversible, as well as have more far-reaching social implications on the society, causing more economic hardships,” he pointed out.
Chai hoped that the restrictions in the private sector especially for fully vaccinated individuals in Southern Sarawak would be eased soon as the state moves into Phase 3 of the NRP.
“We welcome the announcement of the government to ease the restrictions in the social sector for fully vaccinated individuals but regrettably we still need to wait for a little longer for the relaxation for economic sectors especially for the non-essential service.
“Personally, I have reservations for easing cross districts travelling at the moment especially with the number of daily cases still lingering around 20,000 and the number in certain places like Selangor and Kuala Lumpur are still relatively high,” he added.
Yesterday, Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin announced that the government had approved travelling and home quarantine for both fully vaccinated Malaysians and foreigners.
He said the relaxed SOP applied to all residents nationwide and regardless of any phase of the NRP.
He explicitly defined fully vaccinated as those who had received the Pfizer, AstraZeneca and Sinovac doses, and must have exceeded 14 days from the date of their second doses.
For the type of vaccines which requires only one dose (Johnson&Johnson and CanSino), he said the individuals must have exceeded 28 days from the date of their jabs.
Muhyiddin added that the relaxation on SOP for the economic sector would be announced soon, as it is still being discussed and assessed by the National Security Council.
At the time of writing, SDMC has not announced whether Sarawak will follow the relaxed SOP for fully vaccinated individuals.