VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

After 3 months of strict lockdown, several countries in ASEAN have begun to loosen isolation to prevent the spread of the corona virus. Malaysia began to reopen almost all economic and social activities on Wednesday (10/06). This was done after implementing a policy known as Malaysia’s Movement Control Order (MCO) for almost three months. Prohibition of flights and domestic travel has also been lifted. Activity at the Bandar Tasik Selatan integration terminal in Kuala Lumpur was reported to be slowly returning to normal. While Thailand is currently planning to lift more restrictions related to Covid-19 in the business sector. This policy was taken after it was reported that there were no local transmissions in the country in the past 16 days. Spokesperson for Thailand's COVID-19 Situation Administration Center, Taweesin Wisanuyothin, said it would hold a meeting to discuss the plan on Friday (12/06) today. Revocation of restrictions is planned to take effect on June 15 tomorrow. In this phase, schools, restaurants, concert events, amusement parks and playgrounds, as well as outdoor sports facilities have been allowed to reopen by implementing health protocols. However, the lifting of this limitation does not yet apply to nightclubs.

It was noted that there were several countries that decided that easing in the midst of the number of people with coinfection infection19 had not yet declined, in fact there was still an increase. For example, what happened in Pakistan. The World Health Organization (WHO) called on Pakistan to re-implement lockdown after COVID-19 positive cases in the South Asian country increased significantly. There have been at least 5,000 positive cases reported in Pakistan in the past 24 hours, the highest among neighboring countries. This happened after the Pakistani government announced the easing of lockdown. The Prime Minister of Pakistan, Imran Khan, firmly refused the lockdown policy because it was considered to bring down the country's economic conditions. In fact, Khan asked four provinces in Pakistan that are still implementing the policy to immediately revoke it.

India also carries out a similar policy. Easing lockdown even though the distribution rate of covid19 virus is still quite high. Malls, hotels, restaurants and places of worship in India reopened as of June 8, 2020, marking the end of the first phase of lockdown, which began in late March 2020. But areas with high coronary virus cases are required to undergo a second phase of lockdown to 30 June 2020. Mumbai and Delhi are some cities where Covid-19 cases are still high. Later it was reported, after several days of loosening the lockdown, India decided to close the place of worship again, worried that the number of covid19 distribution would increase.

A research team from University College London (UCL) in collaboration with China Tsinghua University has created a model to predict the impact of lockdown easing in various countries. Found a tight Lockdown for 3 months will have a negative impact on the economy. However, lockdown easing will make handling covid 19 will run slower than before.

So which choice will you make? Of course it is up to the governments of each country. In fact, each country has different situations and conditions. And only they are the ones who know the most urgent thing to do right now.