GOING against the tide, the Federation of Malaysian Freight Forwarders (FMFF) is one of the few that agrees with the Government’s consideration of reinstating a full lockdown for Selangor, since the state has been registering a high number of COVID-19 infections lately.
Whilst FMFF is supportive that business should go on as usual, dire forecasts that the numbers could soon go to 10,000 cases and beyond are frightening and a real cause for concern.
“(We) understand that a lockdown would impact businesses, some more than others. (But we are) supportive of a lockdown for a two to four weeks period, targeted at specific states rather than a nationwide lockdown,” FMFF said in a statement released earlier today.
“Additionally, to alleviate the burden of both employers and its staff, the Government should continue to provide the stimulus packages that were provided during the first movement control order (MCO 1.0),” it continued.
FMFF also suggests for the national immunisation programme to be fast-tracked, getting support from private hospitals and clinics to provide vaccinations for free. Doing so would further encourage more people to get vaccinated in a shorter period of time.
The federation also lauds the state governments’ efforts to provide vaccination services to businesses and its staff, but suggests for the vaccinations to be at no cost rather than charging RM380 for the two shots.
“Companies would be hard-pressed to pay for the vaccination cost of their staff and would rather wait for the free vaccination by the Federal Government,” it said. – May 20, 2021
