ENGINEERING PROJECT MANAGEMENT
SEMESTER 2, SESSION 2019/2020
Pandemic Covid-19 Outbreak Treatise of a global issue in
perspective of Project Management
(Government Aspect)
1
TABLE OF CONTENTS
NO.
SUBTOPIC
PAGE
1.0
Introduction
1
2.0
Government allocation of resources in prevention and control
2-7
2.1 Malaysia
2.2 Singapore
3.0
Government allocation of resources in foreign affairs during MCO
8-9
4.0
Government allocation of resources in logistics and food support during
Covid-19 Movement Control Crder (MCO) period
10-12
5.0
Government allocation of resources in frontline work groups (police,
soldiers, health workers) during the MCO period
13-14
6.0
Government strategies on financial management during period of Covid-19
pandemic
15-19
6.1 China
6.2 Korea
7.0
Government planning and strategies on education during Covid-19 pandemic
and lockdown in the countries
20-24
7.1 China
7.2 Singapore
7.3 Malaysia
8.0
Risk management by government during period of Covid-19 pandemic
25-27
9.0
Conclusion
28
10.0
References
2
1.0
INTRODUCTION
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is defined as illness caused by a novel coronavirus now
called severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2; formerly called 2019nCoV), which was first identified amid an outbreak of respiratory illness cases in Wuhan City,
Hubei Province, China. It was initially reported to the WHO on December 31, 2019. On January
30, 2020, the WHO declared the COVID-19 outbreak a global health emergency. The world is
now facing the deadly infectious COVID-19 disease that has affected 213 countries, with
approximately 11,187,193 confirmed positive cases and 528,364 deaths updated in early July 2020.
This paper discusses the actions taken by the governments of various countries, in the aspects of
resource allocation, financial management, education planning and risk management from the
beginning of covid-19 outbreak in December 2019 until early of July 2020.
1
2.0
GOVERNMENT ALLOCATION OF RESOURCES IN PREVENTION AND
CONTROL
2.1
MALAYSIA
MOH played a crucial role in ensuring maximum readiness to contain the spread of the virus.
Among the earliest efforts taken by the MOH to prevent disease transmission was the enforcement
of health screening at all points of entry. According to the Director-General of the MOH Datuk
Dr. Noor Hisham Abdullah, one of the strategies was the placement of thermal scanners to enhance
the detection of fever amongst tourists and/or locals returning from abroad. Malaysians who
returned from Wuhan were screened, identified, and isolated in special quarantine areas for
COVID-19. This measure also involved airline crews as well as the staff of the MOH .
The subsequent key step taken by the MOH along with the government was to increase the number
of hospitals that could treat COVID-19 cases. This included public, private, universities and
Ministry of Defence hospitals. To ease congestion at gazetted COVID-19 hospitals, the
government has successfully transformed the exhibition halls of the Malaysia Agro Exposition
Park (MAEPS) into a temporary makeshift hospital within three days. As located in the heart of
the 149-hectare agricultural park and surrounded by flora and fauna, the hospital was a suitable
place to quarantine and treat low-risk patients with mild symptoms of the virus. This hospital can
accommodate up to 604 patients, where each patient will be provided with a bed, two pillows, a
drawer, and a small study table to put their belongings. Besides those basic facilities, medical
facilities were also available here. Facilities such as pharmacy, X-ray machine, pathology
laboratory, occupational health and safety services, and a dietician were included to ensure the
patients here can get similar treatment as in other hospitals. This facility showed the preparedness
of the government to face any situation like sudden rise in Covid-19 reported cases.
Next, Malaysia's prime minister had announced on 16th March, 2020, a nationwide Movement
Control Order (MCO) which lasts between 18th and 31st March, 2020, intended to mitigate the
spread of COVID-19 through social distancing. Individuals were restricted to travel to other states
to prevent the virus from spreading. The MCO was extended to 14th April, and again to 28th April,
then again to 12th May, and then it entered Conditional MCO (CMCO) until 9th June, 2020. After
that, Recovery MCO (RMCO) lasts between 10th June until 31st August, 2020. During the MCOs,
the medical response to the outbreak is overseen by the Director General of Health. He is
responsible for the preparation of stockpile equipment, detect and monitoring cases, and treatment
of COVID-19 patients. The Ministry of Health of Malaysia has allocated medical resources by
designating hospitals in each state to manage positive cases and control the spreading of COVID19. The federal government has imposed six restrictions during the MCOs, to prevent spreading
of the virus, which public is prohibited from all mass gatherings, Malaysians returning from abroad
are required to undergo health check and self-quarantine for 14 days, tourists and foreign visitors
are restricted to enter Malaysia, closure of all government and private premises except essential
services, closure of all colleges and universities.
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The National Crisis Preparedness and Response Centre (CPRC) under the Ministry of Health
Malaysia has begun operation on 5th January 2020. By early-February, 57 hospitals were reported
to provide screening services for COVID-19, while among them, 26 government hospitals are
responsible for the confirmation of coronavirus and the suspected patients. According to MOH’s
Private Medical Practice Control Section (CKAPS), there are 28 private clinics that have been
authorised to provide COVID-19 screening and triaging booths. These coronavirus screenings
were paid services, but MOH provides free screening for the members of eight targeted high-risk
groups: the Sri Petaling tabligh cluster; tahfiz school, madrasah and sekolah pondok cluster; areas
under Enhanced Movement Control Order (EMCO) and other identified clusters; the elderly
population in old folks’ homes; foreign workers at construction sites in COVID-19 red zones;
market traders related to the Kuala Lumpur Wholesale Market; health care workers; and
Malaysians returning from overseas who are put under mandatory quarantine. Human Resources
Minister M. Saravanan also announced previously that the Social Security Organisation’s
(SOCSO) Prihatin Screening Programme (PSP) will provide free COVID-19 tests for workers
registered with SOCSO but would focus on migrant labourers in the construction and security
sectors.
On 8 April, a consortium of associated laboratories in Malaysia comprising Gribbles Pathology,
Quantum Diagnostics and Clinipath Malaysia launched the country's largest COVID-19 collection
and testing programme to increase testing capacity. Malaysian public universities also providing
research and scientific capacity with 10 diagnostic laboratories at public higher learning
institutions in the country nationwide have been called as part of a joint initiative by the Higher
Education and Science, Technology and Innovation Ministries to help the Health Ministry in
conducting 16,500 coronavirus tests daily. In term of testing, MOH is using a targeted approach
by using its COVID-19 testing capacity wisely for a win-win outcome with a “high impact”, but
at a “reasonable cost”, instead of just testing everyone in the country, which may not be as efficient
or effective as they could still be exposed to COVID-19 risks in their community. With the high
testing rate, Malaysia is among the countries with the highest number of COVID-19 testing among
other ASEAN nations. Malaysia’s coronavirus testing rate of 13 people per 1,000 population,
which is lower than Singapore’s reported rate of 25 tests per 1,000 population, but much higher
than Indonesia’s 0.5 tests per 1,000 people.
With the rapid increase of infections, a further total of 409 sites across the country have been
gazetted by the federal government as quarantine zones for coronavirus patients comprising public
universities, community colleges, technical institutes, former National Service (PLKN) camps,
training centres, polytechnics and hotels owned by federal ministries, departments, agencies and
statutory bodies. All Malaysians coming abroad must undergo mandatory quarantine at the specific
quarantine centres. With the improving conditions of COVID-19 in Malaysia, Malaysians arriving
in the country from overseas will no longer be required to undergo the mandatory quarantine at
quarantine centres, effective June 10. They would need to undergo test swab upon arrival at the
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airport and if found positive they would be sent to hospital for treatment. However, if the test result
is negative, they would have to undergo the mandatory 14-day quarantine at their home.
The Solidarity trial, launched by WHO to compare the safety and effectiveness of treatment
protocols which included chloroquine, hydroxychloroquine, interferon-beta, lopinavir/ritonavir
and remdesivir, would be conducted in nine government hospitals across the country.
On 25 March, the IMR decided to collaborate with the MVP and Universiti Malaya Tropical
Infectious Diseases Research and Education Centre (TIDREC) to begin testing existing local
vaccines. Being one of Malaysia's modular biosafety level 3 (BSL3) facilities previously used to
study highly pathogenic agents such as MERS coronavirus and Nipah virus with the vaccines to
be firstly tested on the infectious bronchitis virus (IBV), UM's TIDREC laboratory was used to
conduct the local vaccines testing. IBV, which is an avian coronavirus, has high genetic similarity
with the human coronavirus.
In the early phase of the outbreak, face mask as one of the essential items to stop the transmission
of COVID-19, has met shortage while local manufacturers continue to export face masks and
personal protective equipment. As the demand is high, the price of face masks rise too. To address
this issue, Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Minister Datuk Alexander Nanta Linggi has
announced that Malaysia cannot export face masks anywhere, effective starting on 17th March.
Malaysia also imported a large number of masks from other countries such as China. The
government has set a ceiling price for the face mask so that it is affordable to everyone. In April,
the government was set to distribute a total of 24.6 million disposable face masks to households
nationwide to protect themselves against COVID-19. Each household will receive four pieces of
face masks for free and only those with symptoms are advised to be wearing the masks.
To aid the government in managing the COVID-19 outbreaks in the countries, a strategic
cooperation between the National Security Council (NSC), the Ministry of Health (MOH), the
Malaysian Administrative Modernisation and Management Planning Unit (MAMPU) and
Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) and Ministry of Science,
Technology and Innovation (MOSTI) was done to develop an application called MySejahtera.
Through this application, users can perform health self-assessment on themselves and their
families. The users can also monitor their health progress throughout the COVID-19 outbreak. In
addition, MySejahtera enables MOH to monitor users' health conditions and take immediate
actions in providing the treatments required.
Starting on March 30, the Ministry of Housing and Local Government has been working together
with MOH to conduct various disinfection activities at public areas. This procedure was mainly
for high risk areas, which involves markets, toilets, bus stations and places of worship. Until June
30, 9,039 disinfection has been done at 134 zones.
4
To ensure people can get sufficient and up-to-date information, MOH has conducted daily press
briefings where the Director-General of the MOH Datuk Dr. Noor Hisham Abdullah will update
the daily reported cases and the current trend of COVID-19 on the briefings. The information can
also be obtained from the three major platforms of MOH, which includes the official portal of
MOH, Facebook account called Crisis Preparedness and Response Centre (CRPC), Kementerian
Kesihatan Malaysia (KKM) and CRPC KKM Telegram. Attractive infographics were channelled
to the public to raise awareness on basic protective and hygiene measures. These included handwashing techniques and the use of hand sanitizers and face masks. Conference recordings and
relevant news were published to increase public engagement and ensure public awareness and
access to accurate information. Besides the use of social media, the government also sent short
message service to every phone user through the National Security Council (NSC). These
messages included updates of strategies, reminders, and appreciation messages to front liners.
2.2
SINGAPORE
Before the disease even had a name, Singapore had stringent travel restrictions and an efficient
contact-tracing operation which contained the virus's spread. To fight against COVID-19, a multiministerial committee was formed on 22 January with Minister for National Development
Lawrence Wong and Minister for Health Gan Kim Yong as the co-chairs and Prime Minister Lee
Hsien Loong and Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance Heng Swee Keat as advisors.
For weeks, Singapore managed to keep its numbers low and trackable, with only small, easily
contained clusters, without any real restrictions to daily life. It started to get worse when thousands
returned to Singapore from countries which had not been as proactive and among them, more than
500 people who unwittingly brought the virus back with them.
Same as Malaysia, Singapore has implemented an elevated set of safe distancing measures, as a
circuit breaker to pre-empt the trend of increasing local transmission of COVID-19 on 7 April
2020.
To meet the rapid increment of daily cases, in April, the Singapore government has come out with
a comprehensive medical strategy to ensure that individuals infected with COVID-19 receive
prompt and quality medical treatment. The plan guides the admission of patients into the
appropriate tiered facilities for medical care and support, the transfer of patients between these
facilities according to their needs, and the discharge of patients who are well and no longer
infectious.
Majority patients show mild or no symptoms. These patients are generally admitted to a
Community Care Facility (CCF) where most recover with minimal intervention. Patients in these
facilities are monitored closely in case they need to be transferred to hospital for better
management and support. Those with severe conditions, such as showing serious symptoms or
have other risk factors and co-morbidities are cared for in Intensive Care Units (ICU).
5
Patients who remain well at Day 14 of illness are likely to remain clinically stable and generally
do not require any further medical care. Those patients are transferred to a step-down Community
Recovery Facility (CRF). Those who have been previously admitted into hospitals may also be
transferred to a CRF when they recover from their acute illness. To support this plan, the
government has established a number of CCFs and CRFs. They also augmented the healthcare
workforce and deployed them to provide the appropriate level of care in the different facilities and
settings, according to the needs of patients.
Persons with acute respiratory infections but are clinically well are issued with five-day medical
certificates and were asked to isolate themselves at home. Those who meet the clinical case
definitions for COVID-19 are tested and asked to self-isolate at home as they await their test
results. Those who are unable to self-isolate in their homes can do so in a Swab Isolation Facility
(SIF) while awaiting their test results. At the end of April, Singapore has built a capacity of 4,000
beds in the SIFs, in locations such as the Civil Service Club at Loyang and hotels.
The CCF capacity has been rapidly increased, starting with about 500 beds at D’Resort NTUC to
about 10,000 spaces currently, including at the Singapore EXPO and Changi Exhibition Centre.
Singapore continued to expand their CCFs, aiming to double their capacity to 20,000 beds by who
are clinically unwell are referred immediately to hospitals for further assessment and treatment
end-June. This includes the CCFs setting up within some of the migrant worker dormitories so that
workers with mild symptoms can be quickly isolated and monitored, with the medical posts
deployed in the dormitories providing the necessary medical support.
To ensure that there is available hospital capacity to care for COVID-19 patients, public hospitals
have postponed non-urgent elective procedures. New capacity in isolation wards and intensive
care units have been created by repurposing existing beds and hospital facilities and acquiring
additional medical equipment such as ventilators. In addition, public hospitals have established
collaborations with private sector healthcare providers to provide further treatment capacity, and
to help care for existing patients with chronic medical conditions. Healthcare institutions have also
started teleconsultation services for follow-up on their patients.
The Ministry of Health (MOH) has sought the support of healthcare professionals in the private
sector, and encouraged them to join the newly launched SG Healthcare Corps. There is about 3,000
healthcare professionals across all job groups have signed up since its launch on April 7. Singapore
also re-deploying manpower from industries affected by COVID-19 to enable them to take on new
roles in hospitals. For example, Singapore Airlines (SIA) cabin crew are filling the role of care
ambassadors. They provide administrative support and attend to patients, under the supervision of
nursing staff.
The Singapore government has also distributed masks around the country. The government gave
four surgical face masks to each household in February, following this up with a distribution of
reusable cloth masks in April, and the third distribution of cloth face coverings with better bacterial
6
filtration capabilities at the end of circuit breaker. For the first time, people can also collect their
masks from vending machines that will operate even after work hours. Before the COVID-19
pandemic, Singapore was only involved in the production of N95 masks. For surgical masks,
Singapore typically works with overseas partners to produce them. Due to COVID-19, the local
production of surgical masks in Singapore was restarted in February with the help of Innosparks
at ST Engineering. Singapore started producing and stockpiling its own reusable cloth masks and
with research and development, “new and better” materials have been found to improve on the
initial cloth mask designs. To ensure the virus is contained, it is made mandatory to wear a mask
when stepping out of the house, with some exceptions.
7
3.0
GOVERNMENT ALLOCATION OF RESOURCES
DURING MCO
IN
FOREIGN AFFAIRS
Malaysian Foreign Minister has seek help from China and UAE , through its good bilateral
relations with the two nations. Wisma Putra has appealed to the Chinese to assist us with their
medical expertise in fighting COVID-19. Foreign Minister also working on getting critical medical
equipments from the UAE. Malaysian medical experts from 26 hospitals had hold a video
conference with experts in China on Thursday, March 26, 2020, to share best practices and
strategies to fight COVID-19 .
A team of medical consultant expert was sent by the Chinese government to share their experiences
in fighting Covid-19 with their Malaysian counterparts. The eight Chinese health experts are from
various fields such as infectious disease, respiratory, intensive care, microbiology or virology,
nosocomial infection and Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). The Chinese experts also
provided advice on ways to prevent a rebound of cases, safeguarding medical personnel and testing
procedures, among others. China has donated via its embassy a batch of urgently needed medical
supplies such as 25000 masks and 1200 goggles and 5000 N95 face masks for Malaysian medical
frontliners on March 24, 2020. On March 19, the Chinese embassy had donated 5000 face masks
and 10000 surgical face shields to the medical personnel at Hospital Sg. Buloh .
In illegal migrant aspect, Malaysian government and people are generally sympathized with the
persecuted minority from Myanmar, the Rohingyas, but its foreign affairs policy had shifted as the
country endured the Covid-19 pandemic, said Ismail Sabri Yaakob, a senior minister for security.
Malaysia has become a focal point for illegal entry, particularly during the pandemic because of
its ability to control the disease and effective healthcare system. These migrants are willing to risk
their lives for a higher quality of life in Malaysia. However, the increase of illegal immigrants and
foreign workers during this time may pose a threat to the country’s socioeconomic stability and
health and human security. This issue has caused the government to analyze the consequences of
immigration and emergency response mechanisms to ensure that the population is protected from
COVID-19 brought about by migrants.
Managing and executing remedial actions immediately and effectively during the COVID-19
pandemic is crucial. With the newly established task force, it is clear that Malaysia government
seeks to implement new mechanisms to deal with illegal border crossings as part of its disease
control response. Previously, the task of preventing illegal immigrants and foreign workers had
been carried out by security enforcement agencies with their own assets, personnel, and
capabilities. But the NTF is characterized by all security agencies operating as part of a wellcoordinated force. Sharing information and domain awareness is a step in the right direction in
addressing pandemic border security in Malaysia.
Malaysia government had announced partial lockdown since March 18, as part of the shutdown,
foreign tourists and visitors are banned from entering Malaysia. In mid-April Bangladesh brought
8
ashore a boatload of starving Rohingyas, who had been prevented from landing in Malaysia during
two months at sea in which dozens died and were thrown overboard. “The decision by the security
forces to bring aid while at the same time blocking the ship carrying the refugee from entering
Malaysia, while the world is battling with COVID-19, was a must,” Abdul Hadi Awang, the leader
of the Malaysian Islamic Party (PAS), said in a statement on Monday. Malaysia government is not
able to provide more resources for additional refugees at this time .
As of April 6 2020, Malaysia government has brought home a total of 6749 Malaysians who were
stranded in 51 countries. Deputy Foreign Minister informed that the cost of bringing them home
were borne by the government ; contributions by political parties; the private sector as well as
through individual efforts. The ministry and its representatives in diplomatic missions abroad will
continue to play a proactive role and work towards enabling the return of Malaysians back home
in the near future," said the minister.
While in Singapore, in dealing with foreign affairs during this covid-19 pandemic, Singapore
government had carried out covid-19 test on a total of 21,000 migrant workers or about one in 15
of them who live in dormitories.
“This is far higher than the testing rates seen in other countries like (South) Korea, which is one in
90, as well as other countries like the United States, United Kingdom or even Hong Kong,”
Singapore Health Minister Gan Kim Yong said on Monday (April 27) at a press conference held
by the government task force tackling the pandemic.
The Ministry of Health (MOH) highlighted this point in a press release after the conference, saying
that the higher intensity of testing allows Singapore to pick up far more cases than many other
countries.
Manpower Minister Josephine Teo furnished data on April 14 stating that there are more than
300,000 migrant workers staying at dormitories across Singapore. These housing facilities include
43 purpose-built dormitories, factory-converted dormitories and temporary quarters at
construction sites.
While the vigorous testing was going on, about 10,000 workers who are not sick, including those
working in essential services, have been moved out of the dormitories. They are housed in various
locations such as the camp sites of the Singapore Armed Forces, the facilities of the Home Team
which comprise the Singapore Police Force and the Singapore Civil Defence Force, floating hotels,
vacant public housing blocks and converted sports halls.
9
4.0
GOVERNMENT ALLOCATION OF RESOURCES IN LOGISTICS AND FOOD
SUPPORT DURING COVID-19 MOVEMENT CONTROL ORDER (MCO) PERIOD.
During MCO, Malaysian government allowed transport and logistics services supporting any
essential manufacturing sector to continue operating, to ensure the supply of essentials and critical
products produced by factories, reaches customers in time and in good condition. Related essential
services including port , dock and airport services and undertakings, cargo handling, pilotage and
storing or bulking of commodities are ensured to be operated smoothly during covid-19 outbreak.
As for the food support during MCOs, the Agriculture and Food Industry Minister stated that food
production sectors such as farming, poultry, fisheries and aquaculture will remain undisrupted to
provide Malaysians with adequate food supplies. Logistics and transportation services that support
the supply chain will ensure the supply of essential and critical goods produced by farmers,
fishermen and others reach customers on time.
The Minister has ensured that the main food items such as rice, meat, fish, vegetables and fruits
are at a stable and adequate level of supply to last through the MCO periods and beyond. These
industries must also play their part to ensure implementation of proper testing and prevention
measures are in place at the company, to safeguard employees and customers in Malaysia against
the threat of COVID-19.
While in China, disruption of the food distribution systems has caused considerable problems in
sales of agricultural products, although demand is not met in the city during the COVID-19 period.
To mitigate the adverse effects of the situation, measures have been taken to match production
with sales to help both farmers and consumers. Specifically, the production is mainly connected
to three types of buyers: (1) wholesale markets and distributors; (2) supermarkets and shops; (3)
communities and neighborhood committees.
A range of approaches have been applied to achieve the production and sales matching. MARA
has organized a video conference with participants from both production and sales bodies to
achieve direct matching and transactions. The conference has enabled sales of 50 350 tonnes of
agricultural products valuing at 335.8 million yuan (USD 47.3 million). A public service alliance
on production and sales matching was established, which was initiated by the China Quality
Agricultural Products Development and Service Association with joined forces from enterprises
such as Pinduoduo, and guided by the Department of Market and Information Technology of the
Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs. The alliance committed to carry out no less than 10
billion yuan (USD 1.4 billion) of special purchase of agricultural products from poor areas in 2020.
Additionally, Information and Communication Technologies (ICTS) have been widely used to sell
products. Under the instruction of the national government, the China Agricultural Product Market
Association collaborated with a range of official media platforms and e-commerce business
platforms and established an online public service platform to assist matching agricultural
10
production with sales during the epidemic prevention period In parallel with the web platform,
mobile chat groups, WeChat official accounts and 24-h hotlines were also used to facilitate
information consolidation. Another important platform is the Online Sales Platform for
Agricultural Products in Poor Areas initiated by the Ministry of Finance and State Council Poverty
Alleviation Office to assist sales of production in 832 State poverty counties. A special zone was
created on the platform during the epidemic prevention period to further assist sales of the
agricultural products and mitigate poor households’ losses.
The Chinese government is also encouraging e-commerce enterprises to actively engage in the
sales of agricultural products, considering the concrete experience and resources they have in
online sales and digitalized supply chain management. Indeed, many e-commerce enterprises have
initiated farmer aid projects which allocated millions in budget and mobilized various resources in
procurement, logistics, operation and marketing to maximize benefits to both farmers and
consumers. Specifically, to help more farmers with online sales, the platforms have reduced the
eligibility requirements to register stores, simplified the registration procedure, and provided
individual training to assist farmers with online store operation. To promote sales, the platforms
have set special sale portals for these stores with well-designed graphics and slogans like ‘caring
for farmers’, and offered vouchers and discounts for transactions on these products. The platforms
also provided resources of livestreaming and short videos (e.g. TikTok) to further promote sales.
Generally, in the livestreaming or short videos, Internet celebrities introduce the good
characteristics of agricultural products on sale to the audience, which usually achieves high amount
of sales due to the interactive nature and the celebrities’ fame. A live streaming event on Wuhan’s
tea gained 0.9 million of click-through rates, achieving 0.89 million yuan (USD 0.13 million) of
sales during the live streaming with 1 million yuan (USD 0.14 million) of sales afterwards. Some
farmers also do the livestreaming and short videos themselves. They not only successfully sell
their products but also attract a lot of fans – with great potential to become an online celebrity! So
far, Taobao’s platform has seen more than 50 000 livestreaming hosts selling agricultural products,
which comprise of celebrities, businesses, farmers and governmental officials.
As a result, to name a few, Alibaba has established a 1 billion yuan (USD 141 million) fund to
support farmers and sold 118 000 tonnes of overstocked agricultural products in less than 40 days.
JD.com has released 25 policies to support farmers and sold 500 tonnes of produce in five days.
Pinduoduo has supported farmers from 400 cities or towns which include more than 230 State
poverty counties.
While for logistic allocation in China, to ensure smooth transportation of agricultural products and
inputs, vehicles delivering these supplies are allowed to transport through the ‘green channel’ when
passing COVID19 checkpoint or toll station by simply holding a pass issued by provincial
governments. The pass allows the transit without being requested to park, pay fees or be inspected
which takes time. The staff at the checkpoint also helps with the disinfection of vehicles to ensure
11
a fast and safe transportation. After arriving at the destination, the driver’s temperature is
measured, visit information is logged and vehicles are disinfected, shortly after this protocol entrance is allowed.
In January 2020, the State Administration of Taxation announced that any income from
transportation of key guarantee materials during the crisis, which include agricultural products and
inputs, is exempt from value added tax (VAT) . National financial support is also provided to
improve on-site cold storage and preservation facilities for family farms and farmer cooperatives,
to facilitate robust logistics service and strengthen resilience of the food supply chain.
Notably, innovative measures in logistics were observed which have been taken by the ecommerce enterprises to achieve efficient and safe delivery of ‘the last mile’ to consumers. For
example, many enterprises started to provide contactless delivery during the crisis by installing
shelves in communities, setting up service points in the neighborhood, delivering to designated
places, and using robot delivery, etc. To ease the shortage of labour in delivery, the ‘shared labour’
model was created, meaning ‘idle’ employees of other sectors such as the catering industry and
the retailing industry temporarily joined the e-commerce companies and worked on delivery
services. Similarly, ‘shared stores’ and ‘shared pick-up points’ have been practiced in some cities.
For example, in Hangzhou city, when people fuel their cars at Sinopec’s petrol station, they are
able to buy fresh vegetables and meat from Freshippo by simply ordering through mobile app
while sitting in the car, then the ordered package will be immediately placed in the trunk of the
car. Another model called ‘community group buying’ was also invented to simplify the delivery,
save labour and minimize people’s contacts. Basically, the residents of each community could
place orders through a group chat, which will be consolidated every day and sent to stores. The
next day the food will be delivered to communities together.
12
5.0
GOVERNMENT ALLOCATION OF RESOURCES IN FRONTLINE WORK
GROUPS (POLICE, SOLDIERS, HEALTH WORKERS) DURING THE MCO PERIOD.
Frontliners such as healthcare staff, Royal Malaysian Police, Malaysian Armed Forces, Civil
Defence Force and various other agencies and volunteers had been allocated by the Malaysia
government to help in controlling the Covid-19. In April 2020, the government formed the
National Task Force (NTF) to manage illegal entry to Malaysia. The Malaysian Armed Forces
(MAF) was given the mandate to coordinate an integrated operation with other security
enforcement agencies within the NTF. The main elements that drive this task force are the MAF,
the Royal Malaysian Police (RMP), and the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA).
Aside from the main three main security enforcement agencies, close cooperation and strong
collaboration with other government agencies, such as the Malaysian Immigration Department,
Royal Malaysian Customs, the Civil Defense Agency, the Ministry of Health, and the Malaysian
Border Security Agency, have been implemented. The Director-General of the MoH emphasized
that the order enforced came under the Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases Act 1988
and the Police Act 1967 and would help to control the spread of the virus ,and enforce better MCO.
This step was significant, as the situation in China had proved that by isolating the infected group
of individuals and practicing social distancing, the pandemic could be contained.
The NTF was formed and allocated as an integrated operation to carry out tasks assigned by the
government. It is responsible for developing a plan by gathering all the information, coordinating
security measures, and monitoring the illegal encroachment of immigrants and undocumented
foreign workers at all entrances and border areas of the country, both by land and sea. The
operation identified corridors in the West Coast of Peninsular Malaysia, the East Coast of Sabah,
and along the inland border of Sarawak. With the involvement and cooperation of the personnel
and assets of all security enforcement agencies, the country’s borders (on land and at sea) have
been tightened and prevented both illegal entry and the spread of COVID-19 in Malaysia.
These frontline workers are fighting to contain and mitigate the raging Covid-19 outbreak without
adequate supply of personal protective equipment (PPE). This shortage of PPE is hampering the
battle to contain Covid-19, and put the lives of frontline workers in danger. Malaysians are rallying
to pool resources to aid them. The Malaysian Plastics Manufacturers Association (MPMA) have
donated and supplied to hospitals and frontliners facing shortages of PPE and disposables such as
face shields, aprons, gowns, shoes, ankle covers, bottles, goggles, mineral waters, etc.. Angkatan
Sukarelawan Asas Sejahtera (ASAS) of Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM) managed to donate
1000 pieces of new head covers or head scarves, a crucial component of a full PPE unit. Sarawak
DAP had managed to donate RM100,000 worth of PPE to the Sarawak General Hospital. Among
the items sourced include coverall suits, N95 respirators, face shields or goggles.
Other than complying with the MCO, front liners in the country are appealing for additional
funding to help them mitigate the Covid-19 outbreak. It was reported that RM500 million (US$113
13
million) will be allocated to purchase medical equipment in efforts to tackle the virus. RM100
million (US$22 million) will also be allocated specifically for the appointment of 2,000 new
employees at the Ministry of Health on a contract basis.
“The allocation (US$113 million) among others will be used to finance the purchase of medical
equipment such as ventilators and ICU apparatus, additional personal protective equipment (PPE)
for public healthcare personnel, as well as laboratory requirements for COVID-19 screening,” said
Malaysia’s prime minister.
In Singapore, as part of the government’s efforts to reassure the public, the Singapore Armed
Forces (SAF) — Singapore’s military — was called upon to support the distribution of medical
masks to the public. A team of 1,500 from the SAF worked around the clock to pack medical
masks so that they could be transported to distribution centers across Singapore in time for the
start of distribution on February 1. SAF personnel also helped to monitor passengers at Changi
Airport and make phone calls to support contact tracing.
This is not the first time the SAF has been called to assist in a domestic contingency. During the
outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) in 2003, SAF’s medical personnel were
deployed to assist in medical screening at Changi Airport. The SAF was also deployed to carry out
contact tracing. When widespread forest fires in Indonesia resulted in severe haze over the region,
including Singapore, the SAF was tasked to distribute 200,000 masks to vulnerable households.
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6.0
GOVERNMENT STRATEGIES ON FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT DURING
PERIOD OF COVID-19 PANDEMIC
Financial management is defined as planning, organizing, directing and controlling the financial
activities such as procurement and utilization funds of the enterprise. It means applying general
management principles to financial resources of the enterprise.
The objectives of financial management are to ensure regular and adequate supply of funds to the
concern, ensure adequate returns to the shareholders which will depend upon the earning capacity,
market prices of the share, expectations of the shareholders, ensure optimum funds utilization,
ensure safety on investment and plan a sound capital structure.
The Covid-19 pandemic also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic
of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome
coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The outbreak was first identified in Wuhan, China, in December
2019. The World Health Organization declared the outbreak a Public Health Emergency of
International Concern on 30 January 2020, and a pandemic on 11 March. In order to avoid
enormous losses caused by this pandemic, the government plays a significant role to come out with
relevant measures within a short period.
6.1
China
In China, various ministerial level regulatory authorities have promulgated a package of financial
policies to ease the financial distress of enterprises caused by the outbreak of the novel coronavirus
pandemic (“COVID-19”) since January 2020. The financial policies include providing loans with
preferential conditions through financial institutions to certain frontline companies, reducing the
costs of financing guarantee services, postponing the repayment of loans, optimizing corporate
bond issuance procedures and facilitating cross-border financing, which are generally available to
eligible companies regardless of whether they are controlled by PRC or foreign shareholders.
Among these financial policies, the Department of Finance (“MOF”) also released industryspecific policies jointly with the Civil Aeronautics Administration of China (“CAAC”), to provide
financial support to airlines during the COVID-19 outbreak.
As a general rule, China limits the maximum level of foreign debts that an enterprise can take on
based on such enterprise’s registered capital amount and net asset value. However, to ease the
liquidity issues caused by the COVID-19 outbreak, the State Administration of Foreign Exchange
(“SAFE”) promulgated a circular on January 27, 2020 to temporarily lift the restrictions on the
foreign debt quota available to enterprises. In addition, to further facilitate the cross-border
financing of these enterprises, SAFE permits enterprises to register the taking on of foreign debt
through its online platform.
15
To reduce the financing costs of agricultural enterprises and SMEs, PBOC also promulgated the
Circular on Re-lending and Re-discounting to Promote Orderly Resumption of Operations and
Production on February 26, 2020, setting forth the detailed loan facilitation and re-discounting
schemes which will allocate a total amount of CNY 500 billion to support agricultural enterprises
and SMEs.
On February 14, 2020, MOF and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs (“MOARA”)
jointly issued a circular on supporting the stable production and supply of agricultural products
during the COVID-19 outbreak, pursuant to which the National Agricultural Credit Guarantee
Alliance Co., Ltd. shall reduce fifty percent (50%) of the re-guarantee fee on the re-guarantee
business of nationwide provincial agricultural guarantee companies for the period from February
14, 2020 to the end of 2020. This is meant to encourage local governments to implement measures
to reduce or waive the guarantee fee for guarantee business to reduce financing costs for
agricultural entities.
In addition, MOF released a circular on March 27, 2020, which requires the National Financing
Guarantee Fund and government controlled financing guarantee and re-guarantee institutions to
enhance the credit for financing by SMEs, agricultural businesses, farmers and businesses in rural
areas. To alleviate the difficulties for SMEs to obtain financing, Circular No. 19 requires
government controlled financing guarantee and re-guarantee institutions to coordinate with
financial institutions to extend the loans to SMEs as soon as possible without any withdrawal,
postponement or suspension of such loans. In addition, local government controlled financing
guarantee and re-guarantee institutions shall reduce fifty percent (50%) of the financing guarantee
and re-guarantee fee for SMEs for the year of 2020.
To ease the liquidity difficulties of medium-sized enterprises and SMEs brought about by the
COVID-19 outbreak, CBIRC, PBOC, NDRC, MIIT and MOF jointly promulgated a circular on
March 1, 2020, setting forth measures for postponing the principal and interest repayments for
loans. According to the Repayment Postponement Circular, medium-sized enterprises and SMEs
experiencing liquidity issues resulting from the COVID-19 outbreak can apply to the relevant
banks and financial institutions to postpone the repayment of the principal and interest of loans.
On March 4, 2020, MOF and CAAC jointly promulgated a circular on financial support policies
for civil aviation and transportation enterprise during the prevention and control of the COVID-19
outbreak. According to the Airlines Support Circular, cash support will be provided to both
domestic and foreign airlines that operate international flights either to or from China in an effort
to help them fight against the difficulties brought about by the COVID-19 outbreak and to
encourage the resumption or continuous operation of their international flights.
China’s financial policies are being and will be implemented by various government agencies,
banks, financial institutions and government controlled guarantee and re-guarantee institutions to
16
support the resumption of operations and production. In addition to the package of financial
policies, China has also promulgated policies from tax, social security, employment, international
trade, import and export, foreign investment and other industry-specific perspectives with the aim
of helping businesses, especially SMEs, to survive, as well as the overall economic environment’s
recovery from the COVID-19 outbreak. With the gradual stabilization and control of COVID-19
in China as well as the rest of the world, we expect both central and local governments to introduce
more policies in the coming months to enhance economic development as well as social stability.
6.2
Korea
On 5 February, 2020, the 3rd Ministerial Meeting on the Economy held and discussed the support
for businesses affected by the spread of the novel coronavirus. Tax and customs support for
businesses affected by the disease. The government will provide support to businesses and
manufacturers by giving an income tax extension for up to nine months and VAT extension for
the same period to businesses in tourism (accommodations and dining services etc.), working on
early tax returns and for underpayment- give up to one year before penalties and discontinuing, or
suspend the tax audits being carried out.
The Ministry of Economy and Finance organized the 5th Ministerial Meeting on economy.
Government will provide financial support to SMEs by providing them business operation loans
worth 25 billion won with a lower interest rate, guarantees worth 105.0 billion won with preferable
conditions and loan extensions, expanding the accounts receivable insurance to 2.2 trillion won
and pay the insurance within 10 days from the accident, promoting market diversification through
KOTRA’s export assistance program called ‘export voucher’ Small merchants, providing 20
billion won worth of small merchant loans with a lower interest rate, guarantees worth 100 billion
won with preferable conditions, and loan and guarantee extensions, working for local governments
to be able to increase their support for small merchant guarantees and helping small merchants
affected recover from the damage, such as by assisting in launching an online business.
On 17 February 2020, the 6th Ministerial Meeting on the Economy was held to draw up an
emergency support for tourism, restaurants and transportation, which the businesses directly
affected by the Covid-19 pandemic. In the sector of tourism, government provides small tourism
businesses with a total of 50 billion won of credit-based loans with a one percent interest rate,
expands the 1.5-2.25 percent interest rate loans for tourism businesses and give a one year
postponement of loan repayment and gives property tax cuts to hotels affected and allow duty-free
shops to defer their payment of business license taxes for up to one year. For the restaurant owners,
the government increases the business loans for restaurants (currently 10 billion won) and lowers
the interest rates by 0.5 percentage points to 2-2.25 percent and promotes jointly purchasing food
materials.
17
On 18 Mac 2020, 1st Crisis Management Meeting of 2020, a ministerial gathering to respond to
the COVID-19 outbreak was held. The meeting came out with a second emergency package for
industries: fee cuts for using airports, expressways and passenger terminals, reduced public bus
schedules and emergency support for passenger ships traveling between Korea and Japan,
emergency loans for tourism, and production costs support and admission fee support for art
performance, guarantees for accounts receivable financing and activities to promote online exports
etc.
The 2nd Crisis Management Meeting of 2020, which is also the 12th Ministerial Meeting to respond
to COVID19 outbreak, was held on 25 Mac 2020. To provide FX liquidity, the government will
temporarily provide a bank levy exemption and work on temporarily easing the 80 percent FX
liquidity coverage ratio (A 0.1 percent tax on FX liabilities of financial institutions, excluding
deposits). The government plans to use the Korea-US currency swap line and to provide the market
with enough liquidity (the ratio of high-quality liquid foreign assets to projected net cash outflows
over 30 days). To support businesses, retain their employees, the government will increase its wage
subsidies from 100 billion won to 500 billion won, expanding to all industries for a limited period
from April 1 to June 30.
On 26 Mac 2020, the government has decided to ease the country’s FX market stability rules as
uncertainties in capital flows continue to grow amid fears over the spread of COVID-19. The rules
were first introduced after the 2008 global financial crisis to control excessive capital movements
and short-term borrowings, and then have been applied flexibly according to the changes in market
conditions.
All in all, past health crises in developing countries, including Ebola, SARS, and the Swine Flu,
showed that accountability and transparency requirements may need to be modified during
emergency situations, but should be not done away with. Based on the research, it is believed that
public financial management (PFM) systems in every country need to be responsive and flexible,
while ensuring value for money and minimizing fraud and corruption. Developing countries could
make several quick fixes now to ensure that their PFM systems best support COVID-19 responses.
Firstly, the funding COVID response should be quick and clear. A reallocation of existing
resources may be necessary and can be done through transfers or supplementary budgets.
Secondly, efficient cash management is crucial in the financial management during Covid-19
outbreak. In countries where a treasury single account (TSA) is already in operation, the
government has an overall picture of cash available at any point in time and is in a better position
to manage cash and ensure liquidity for COVID-19 operations. In cases where large sums of
government cash are sitting in commercial bank accounts, it may be appropriate for the Ministry
of Finance to quickly collect, aggregate, and establish processes to move funds into bank accounts.
Besides, payment management should be optimized. The emergency situation is likely to constrain
18
liquidity. Hence greater emphasis on optimal use of cash float and credit lines is necessary. The
normal payment processes of invoicing, goods / services receipts, and payments can be reviewed,
both at the implementing line ministry and the Ministry of Finance, to explore how best to use the
time frame allowed by creditors in making payments. In addition, the financial reporting for timely
assurance should be considered. Where separate budget lines are created for COVID-19 response,
they need to follow the standard financial reporting system (IPSAS or national standards).
Governments can benefit from more frequent interim reporting on the specific lines for decisionmaking. As the world navigates the challenges of COVID-19, PFM systems in many countries will
be stress tested. But learning from this can help prepare for future situations.
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7.0
GOVERNMENT PLANNING AND STRATEGIES ON EDUCATION DURING
COVID-19 PANDEMIC AND LOCKDOWN IN THE COUNTRIES
Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) was declared as a pandemic by the World Health Organization
(WHO) on 11 March 2020. Most governments around the world have temporarily closed all of the
educational institutes in order to minimise the spread of COVID-19 chain in the countries. The
closure of educational institutes impacts over 60% of the world's student population, according to
UNESCO (United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) 2020
7.1
China
China is the first country to impose a lockdown due to the spread of coronavirus disease in the
country. The first city that was imposed lock down was Wuhan in late January. Other regions were
gradually shut until around half of the country’s population was under certain form of restriction
by mid-February. All schools and universities in the lockdown regions were ordered to close and
students were not allowed to attend physically to schools and universities.
There were nearly 200 million primary and secondary school students in China started their
new semester online due to the closure of schools. The Ministry of Education of China had put
their effort in launching an initiative entitled “Ensuring learning undisrupted when classes are
disrupted”. In order to implement the initiative, the Ministry of Education collaborated with the
Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. The steps in realizing this initiative included
mobilizing all major telecom service providers to boost the internet connectivity service for the
purpose of online education. Besides, society-wide resources were mobilized for the arrangement
of online courses and resources. Apart from that, enhancing the bandwidth of major online
education service platforms was carried out. There are still other steps were taken in order to ensure
the online education runs smoothly.
Beside that, in order to ease the learning process, schools and teachers are advised to choose
appropriate delivery modes of the class. For example, online platforms and mobile applications.
Moreover, teachers have received guidance on all of the teaching modes including through live
streaming of online tutorials and Massive Open Online Course (MOOC).
Other than primary and secondary schools, universities and colleges in China were also
affected due to this pandemic and lock down. The beginning of spring semester was postponed by
universities and colleges due to this lock down. Moreover, students were not allowed to return to
campuses without approval.
The Ministry of Education in China also played an important role in ensuring the online
learning can be carried out smoothly and flexibly. The ministry has launched an initiative entitled
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“Disrupted classes, undisrupted learning” in order to provide better online learning to over 270
million students that were affected by this COVID-19 pandemic and lock down.
The initiative as mentioned as above was followed up by ‘Guidance on the Organization
and Management of Online Teaching in the Higher Education Institutions During Epidermic
Prevention and Control Period’ (Ministry of Education 2020). Furthermore, the Ministry urged the
universities to carry out multi-dimensional learning evaluation and to credit student online
achievements appropriately.
By 2 February 2020, there are 22 major online curriculum platforms that have opened
24000 online courses for higher education institutions to choose. It included 1291 national
excellence courses and 401 national virtual simulation experimental courses which covered 12
undergraduate programs and 18 tertiary vocational programs.
China’s government began the first reopening of schools in regions when the two criteria
met, which was that schools could execute standard safety precautions and officials determined
the risk to be low. Most regions had reopened schools by the end of March, generally starting with
students who are in their final year of middle and high school in order for them to prepare for high
school and college entrance exams.
Marielza Oliveira, director of the UNESCO Beijing Office said that the response of China’s
education system to COVID-19 pandemic is outstanding in the term of depth of the remote learning
facilities being made available and in terms of the scale required to cover the needs.
Based on the efforts and initiatives taken by China’s government, this can be shown that
they are responsible and acting fast in the field of education in order to ensure classes for all schools
and universities can be carried out smoothly and the students can benefit from it.
7.2
Singapore
In Singapore, Circuit Breaker (CB) began on 7 April 2020 and originally scheduled it to end on 4
May 2020. However, Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong announced that the Circuit
Breaker extended by four weeks until 1 June 2020 on 21 April 2020. Schools were closed during
circuit breaker as it was one of the efforts expected to slow and minimise the spread of COVID19 in the country. The teaching and learning process switched to full home-based learning in its
school starting from 8 April 2020.
The Ministry of Education of Singapore had provided school meal subsidies in the form of
School Smartcard top-ups to all primary and secondary students from low income families during
Full Home-Based Learning period.
Beside that, during the period of full home-based learning (HBL), schools were continuing
to provide instructions and support for students to access both online and hardcopy HBL materials.
21
The Singapore Student Learning Space (SLS) platform was accessible to students during this
period. Moreover, students who require digital devices or internet connectivity are being assisted.
With the extension of CB to June 1, the Ministry of Education (MOE) of Singapore decided
to bring forward the June holidays to May 5. This adjustment applied to all MOE kindergartens,
primary, secondary and pre-university students.
While for Institutes of Higher Learning (IHLs) from 5 May 2020 to June 2020, students
from polytechnics continued with full home-based learning, students from the Institute of
Technical Education (ITE) continued full home-based learning until 8 May 2020. After that, they
were on vacation from 9 May to 1 June. For students from the Singapore Institute of Technology
and some students from the Singapore University of Technology and Design started their school
term on 18 May 2020 in full home-based learning mode. While for the other Autonomous
Universities were having their holidays during this period. Those universities which are offering
summer term conducted all classes online.
The Ministry of Education announced with the end of CB on 1 June 2020, they entered a
safe opening phase. MOE planned to bring students back to schools and Institutes of Higher
Learning progressively from 2 June 2020 in a careful and safe manner. The students will return to
school in two phases. During the first phase, graduating primary and secondary students which are
also Primary 6 and Secondary 4 and 5 students will attend school from Mondays to Fridays when
Term 3 starts on 2 June 2020. While for students who are Primary 1 to 5 and Secondary 1 to 3,
they will continue their learning process based on weekly rotation between home-based learning
and attending school physically.
For the second phase, the Ministry of Education said that it will take place in tandem with
broader easing at the national level, which plans to allow all students return to school from
Mondays to Fridays.
With the end of Circuit Breaker on June 1, Institutes of Higher Learning took few
approaches from June 2. For polytechnics, students are required to continue their lectures and
tutorials online. They are allowed to return to campuses for practical and lab sessions. For Institute
of Technical Education, students will rotate weekly between online and physically attended
lessons. Same as polytechnics students, they are allowed to return to campuses for practical and
lab sessions. While for Autonomous Universities, students from the Singapore Institute of
Technology and Singapore University of Technology and Design will continue their lectures and
tutorials online. Students are allowed to return to campuses for practical and lab sessions, including
capstone and final-year projects. Students from the other Autonomous Universities will be having
their vacation.
It can be shown that the Singapore government has opened the education sector in a stage
to stage method after the end of Circuit Breaker on 1 June. During the period of Circuit Breaker,
22
full home-based learning was carried out to ensure the teaching and learning processes can be
continued. This is good in ensuring that the progress of teaching and learning is not much affected
by the COVID-19 pandemic and Circuit Breaker.
7.3
Malaysia
In Malaysia, the government announced the first phase of Movement Control Order (MCO) which
was held from 18 to 31 March 2020. Implementation of MCO is aim to minimise the spread of
COVID-19 in the country. During the period of MCO, no gatherings are allowed, this included
that schools must be closed. All universities and colleges also be banned from having any types of
physical class including lectures, tutorials, practical and lab sessions.
Initially, all schools in Malaysia were closed for a week from 14 to 22 March 2020 because
it was school holidays. However, due to MCO, all schools must continue to remain closed during
this period.
There are few phases of MCO. Starting from 4 May 2020, the Malaysian Government had
eased lockdown restrictions under a Conditional Movement Control Order (CMCO), which
allowed certain business sectors to resume operations. However, all students were still not allowed
to return to school during this period. On 10 May, the Prime Minister of Malaysia announced that
the CMCO was extended to 9 June. This was the fourth extension since 18 March. Recovery
Movement Control Order (RMCO) is implemented starting from 10 June to 31 August 2020. With
the implementation of RMCO, Form 5 and 6 students are allowed to return to schools for physical
lessons starting from 24 June 2020.
Due to this COVID-19 and MCO, education systems are affected as both teachers and
students were not allowed to attend schools for physical classes. All the teaching and learning
mode need to be switched to online mode.
The Ministry of Education had released teaching and learning guidelines during the MCO
period. This included the MPE-DL learning programme, which provides a link to specific learning
platforms. For instance, Google Classroom and Microsoft Teams. While for all universities and
colleges, online learning mode is used for the teaching and learning processes.
On 27 May 2020, the Ministry of Higher Education (MoHE) announced that all teaching
and learning processes must be done online until 31 December 2020. No face-to-face lessons are
allowed. However, there are exceptions given to five academic categories involving students. One
of the categories is post-graduate students who are in research mode that study in public and private
universities and have the permission to continue their research immediately.
On 10 June 2020, the Education Minister announced that schools will be reopened from
June 24. The schools will be reopened in stages, starting with students that will sit for public
23
examinations and international school examinations that are equivalent this year. These students
are facing SPM and STPM examinations or examinations which are equivalent with STPM. There
are standard operating procedures (SOPs) and guidelines that must be carried out by each school
when schools reopen.
Based on the initiative and steps taken, it can be shown that Malaysian government is
responding and acting fast in the term of ensuring the teaching and learning processes can be
conducted smoothly during this pandemic and lockdown.
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8.0
RISK MANAGEMENT BY GOVERNMENT DURING PERIOD OF COVID-19
PANDEMIC
In governance of implementing all types of strategies, there are risks that have continuously
occurring which might bring negative effects to the nation. “Predicting the unpredictable: dealing
with risk and uncertainty” has always been a key mantra, and this holds true today with the
emergence of COVID-19. There are many associated risks which are impacted by COVID-19, for
example: Cyber and Fraud risks, Reputation risks, Supply Chain risks, Health & Safety,
Economical Risks and etc.
In the face of such a health emergency, some governments around the world have responded
quickly by suddenly imposing strict quarantine measures, such as the cordon around China, Covid19 Circuit Breaker in Singapore, and Movement Control Order (MCO) in Malaysia. The pandemic
has resulted in the largest amount of shutdowns/lockdowns worldwide, whereby 3.9 billion people
worldwide were under some form of lockdown by the first week of April — more than half of the
world's population.With the implementation of Movement Control Order in Malaysia, one of the
major risks is that Malaysians did not have ample knowledge and awareness regarding the Covid19 issue and did not obey the MCO and health procedures. Moreover, due to more frequent usage
of technology and the Internet whereby everyone is working and learning from home, cyber risks
is one of the risks that is faced by the nations whereby the number of scams, false information, and
cyber security attacks become more serious. Therefore, an alliance involving 38 professional
medical societies was established on March 1, 2020 to support the MoH in the area of healthcare
(Malaysia Health Coalition, 2020). MoH has also conducted daily press briefings, conference
recordings, and has published relevant news on COVID-19 to increase public engagement and
ensure public awareness. The intention of this coalition was to keep the community well-informed
and to ensure that information made available was true and accurate. The Ministry of
Communications and Multimedia also played its role to investigate false information and clarify
the truthfulness of information which is spreading on the internet.
By implementing MCO, the nations faced major financial risks whereby they are affected majorly
because of sudden unemployment and the economic downturn. Another measure taken by the MoH
to cushion the impact of COVID-19 was the setting up of a special fund known as the COVID-19
Fund, to raise money to be channelled to patients, particularly those affected financially due to the
quarantine procedure. This fund initially received RM 1 million from the government and private
sectors. NGOs and individuals were welcomed and encouraged to direct their contributions too.
Through this fund, RM 100 was given daily to those who had no source of income throughout the
quarantine and treatment processes. To further encourage contributions, the Inland Revenue Board
(IRB) took up the initiative of offering tax deductions for cash and item donations to help the
affected communities in meeting their basic needs and help build their resilience (The Star,
2020b). Also, each policy holder could go for a screening test worth up to
25
RM300 in private hospitals and laboratories. Other than that, the Ministry also received support
from the insurance sectors,whereby policy holders with financial problems and disruption to their
income as a result of the MCO and coronavirus outbreak were given a 3-month deferment on their
policy payments.The government also showed its gratitude to healthcare employees by increasing
their monthly allowance from RM400 to RM600 per month beginning April1, 2020, to be
continued until the epidemic ends (Sunil, 2020). In addition, anextra RM 100 has been paid to all
the Household Living Aidrecipients and RM 50 will be given in the form of e-cash. In brief,
Household Living Aid is aid given by the Malaysian government to certain categories of receivers
who qualify according to a set of criteria that was announced by the government. The minimum
contribution to the Employment Provident Fund (EPF) was also reduced from 11% to 7% effective
from April 1, 2020 until December 31, 2020.
With the widespread spread of covid-19 and the increase of the number of positive cases detected
in Malaysia, the needs of medical equipment are highly important and there might be risks of
insufficient medical supplies to accommodate the large amount of tests and treatment to be
conducted. The money collected from the COVID-19 Fund was also used to cover medical
expenses such as buying crucial equipment and other supplies. The MoH and Tenaga Nasional
Berhad(TNB) established an action coalition to obtain financial aid from corporate companies,
government-linked companies (GLCs), and other organizations in Malaysia in the move to fight
the outbreak. The funds collected were used by the MoH to restock medical supplies as well as
necessary healthcare items to curb COVID-19(New Straits Times, 2020a). Prime Minister Tan Sri
Muhyddin Yassin also announced an additional budget of RM1billion to cater for medical
needs,such as the purchase of equipment and services to overcome COVID-19. Also, one of the
initiatives agreed after the Economic Action Council meeting held on March 23, 2020 was the
allocation of RM 600million to the MoH to battle COVID-19. According to Prime Minister Tan
Seri Muhyiddin Yassin, RM 500 million would be utilized to buy ventilators and personal
protective equipment (PPE) and another RM 100 million would be used to appoint 2000 nurses on
a contract basis (Yusof, 2020).
The drastic economic downturn is also one of the major risks as industries are cutting down
manpowers and even shutting down the companies due to the sudden enforcement of MCO.
According to AmBank Group chief economist Anthony Dass, direct damage caused by the virus
can be seen in the tourism and travel industries, manufacturing, construction, mining, and
agriculture,with many workers being laid off and others being placed on unpaid leave (Murugiah,
2020). The Prime Minister of Malaysia, Tan Seri Muhyiddin Yassin has particularly stated that the
nation's tourism industry has been crippled, with an estimated loss of RM3.37 billion in the first 2
months of the year (Dzulkifly, 2020). The forced closure of small businesses, mainly the small and
medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and services, could probably lead to permanent shutdowns and
many losing their jobs, as well as individuals going bankrupt (Cheng, 2020). An Economic Action
Council was established to address various economic issues. In conjunction with that, the Prime
26
Minister has announced the budget allocation of RM250 billion PRIHATIN Package to support
micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises struggling to retain their employees on March 27 2020.
As the number of daily cases and active cases of Covid-19 reduced in Malaysia by mid-April, the
government had relaxed several measures of the MCO. The Prime Minister also announced that
Conditional Movement Control Order (CMCO) will start on May 4th and Recovery Movement
Control Order (RMCO) starting on the June 10th with the main goal of reopen the national economy
in a controlled manner. With the actions taken although it may benefit the recovery of economic
status, however there are still risks pertaining as there might still be possibilities for the Covid-19
virus to spread as publics are allowed to conduct certain activities with limitations. To avoid such
issues to happen, the government had discussed thoroughly regarding the Standard Operation
Procedures (SOP) for each sector to reopen to reduce the risks of Covid-19 infection, and every
sector and the public should follow the SOPs in order to be allowed to reopen their services.
Examples of SOPs required are temperature check, hand sanitizing, scanning QR codes, and social
distancing of 1m in public areas and the limitation of operating hours. These procedures made
must be followed by every sector to avoid the close contact of the public which may cause another
wave of Covid-19 outbreak.
With the actions taken by the government on handling the risks throughout the Covid-19 pandemic,
it has proven that the government used several ways of risk management such as avoiding the risks
by creating Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) and the enhancing the Movement Control Order
(MCO). Also, the government has proven that their ability to accept risk such as the economic
downturn and the sudden Covid-19 outbreak in Malaysia.
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9.0
CONCLUSION
COVID-19 is a pandemic that occurs worldwide and many countries recorded a spike in
coronavirus positive cases. This has caused the countries to impose lockdown in order to break the
chain of COVID-19 within the community. The decision of lockdown has obviously affected all
sectors in the countries, especially the economy. In Malaysia, the lockdown is known as Movement
Control Order (MCO). During MCO, the Malaysian government has made good use of the
resources available in order to break the chain of COVID-19. All frontliners including doctors,
nurses, police and military police have played their roles responsibly and their contributions during
the period of pandemic and MCO are significant. The Malaysian government has taken various
initiatives in order to reduce the impacts of MCO on the sectors including economy and education.
The PRIHATIN Package is one of the important initiatives announced by the Malaysian
government to reduce the financial impacts. Moreover, the Education Minister has announced
online learning is carried out to substitute the physical learning lessons during this MCO for all
schools in Malaysia. Universities and colleges also switched the learning mode to online learning.
It can be shown that the education system can still be carried out even though MCO is
implemented. To conclude, the government plays a significant role to protect our beloved nation
from the frightful impact caused by COVID-19 pandemic. If these measures were not implemented
on time, many negative impacts will occur, such as rapid distribution of the virus across the
country, retardation of education, long-term financial crisis which will slow down the nation's
development. Every related party and organizations must give full cooperation towards our
government to fight against COVID-19 pandemic.
28
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