GEORGE TOWN, May 8 ― Penang's economy will take time to recover despite the reopening of almost all businesses in the state today, said Penang Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow.
The Penang lawmaker said it was a challenging time for all sectors to rebuild their businesses after the movement control order (MCO).
“I expect that we will need a certain period of time before we can see the effects of a recovering economy but at the same time, we must ensure the reopening of these businesses do not affect our efforts in fighting Covid-19,” he told reporters after visiting Gurney Paragon today.
He said the state did not want to see an increase in coronavirus disease (Covid-19) cases after reopening the economy.
“The reopening of the economic sectors encouraged more human interactions than during the MCO so we will continue to monitor the situation and ensure all businesses comply with the SOPs,” he said.
Chow noted a lack of customers in the places he visited this morning, namely IKEA in Batu Kawan and traditional shops along Campbell Street.
“The situation is still slow in terms of customers and customers will still need to get accustomed to the new normal so I hope retailers will look at other ways to ensure the resilience of their businesses,” he said.
He referred to IKEA as an example in adopting new business practises during this challenging time.
“I was informed by IKEA that during MCO, they continued to operate online and business was satisfactory, in fact, they saw an increase in online orders by several per cent,” he said.
He added that other businesses could also emulate IKEA to go online to get more sales.
All business premises that are allowed to open today onwards are required to adhere to strict standard operating procedures (SOPs) by the National Security Council (NSC) which include ensuring social distance, availability of hand sanitisers for customers and a limit on the number of customers within the premises.
Chow said IKEA has taken steps to ensure there is a limit in the number of customers in the lifts and also within the store while the temperature of each customer is taken at the entrance.
As for allowing dining in at restaurants, Chow said the state government will take into consideration several factors before making a decision.
“Hopefully, we can make a decision on whether to allow dine-in at eateries after May 13 soon,” he said.
