JOHOR BARU, May 28 — Johor Ruler Sultan Ibrahim Sultan Iskandar today has proposed that the federal government conduct a full targeted lockdown for bordering states without putting the national economy on standstill in an effort to bring down the infectivity rate.
He suggested that the government implements a full lockdown on a targeted basis by state or region.
“For example, the southern zones of Johor, Melaka and Negri Sembilan can be put on ‘full lockdown’ for two weeks, followed by other zones such as the east coast (Pahang, Terengganu, Kelantan).
“States that are not on lockdown can resume economic activities under the movement control order (MCO) of their respective areas.
“By doing this, we are dealing with a number of cases without affecting the country’s economic activities as a whole,” Sultan Ibrahim told the Johor Royal Press Office today.
His statement was also posted on his official Facebook page.
Sultan Ibrahim’s response came shortly after the country recorded a shocking daily new Covid-19 figure that exceeded the 8,000 threshold for the first time.
According to Sultan Ibrahim, he hopes that his ideas will be considered by both the state government and the federal government.
“I propose this out of concern for our country.
“I hope it will be considered by the state government as well as the federal government,” said Sultan Ibrahim.
The 63-year-old state monarch has lately expressed his concern on the current situation and has several times highlighted the dangers of the Covid-19 pandemic in the country.
Yesterday, he urged the federal government to consider a full lockdown as the country reported 7,478 new Covid-19 cases.
Sultan Ibrahim said he is worried about the alarming number of new cases and urged Malaysians to also commit to self-lockdown to break the Covid-19 chain of infection.
Earlier today, Malaysia recorded 8,290 new Covid-19 cases in what can be seen as an upwards surge in daily infections.
