The year of 2020 was attacked by the pandemic known as Coronavirus Disease

(COVID19). Covid-19 has blow-out across the world after several cases reported in Wuhan,

China. It is undisputable that Covid-19 has changed the lives of humans universally. People

have been enforced to hurriedly adapt to the new situation such as wearing mask whenever

they go out from their home. Countries all around the world are doing full lockdowns,

shutting down domestic and international airports and completely shutting their borders, to

enclose the new coronavirus. Malaysia also shut its doors to tourists and workers also need to

work from home. The lockdown is necessary to stop the spreading of the virus all over the

country. Due to this closure borders, citizens are no longer free to roam, travelling to other

country and are advised to stay at home. Many people are affected by this pandemic. For

students, they might be happy because they no longer need to wake up early and attend to

school with Monday blues. However, as a responsible parents, they have to take full

responsibility in order to make sure their children did not to miss education. As student, it is

their responsibility for them to complete their assignments and homeworks assigned by

teachers. For example, lecturers and teachers are using online education platforms such as

Zoom, Google Meet and Whatsapp to ensure students can still have their classes going on as

usual in order to complete the syllabus. For adults, they still need to go to their workplace and

need payday to sustain their life and family. However, adults are actually risking their lives

because they are facing the spreading of the virus around the country. According to the report

of Health Ministry, death rate show that the virus is the most deadly for the elderly. As a

responsible member of community, it is our responsibility to help and ensure our senior

citizen or elderly to remain safe by staying at home. During this time of Movement Control

Order (MCO) and quarantine, it is necessary to remember to involve in healthy leisure

activities. It is easy to get drawn into youtube, televison, video games, and social media such

as facebook, instagram and twitter but it is more essential to take time for yourself away from
the screen. There are a few leisure activities that might be beneficial for elderly to do during

MCO such as pick some interesting hobbies such as gardening, do some physical activities

with family members, armchair travelling by watching a travelling documentary, video or

podcast to gain new virtual experiences.

Firstly, elderly can pick one of the most interesting leisure activity like gardening and

planting flowers in their house compound. People who stay in the village fulfil their time by

gardening and this gardening activity should be practiced by the people who live in the city as

well especially during MCO period. Gardening is a new way to reduce stress during MCO

because it develops healthy lifestyle. Parents could ask their children to help them prepare the

soils and also teach their children on how to plant the seeds. There are few plants that can be

planted as starter to gain new experience as beginner such as lemon grass, pepper, cucumber,

and also planting flower like hibiscus, bougainvillea, and sunflower. Perks of gardening are

that they no longer needed to buy these vegetables at supermarket and can save money to

invest on other important things in the future. Besides that, by gardening, lawn and area that

used as garden will look neat from bushy, look beautiful and attractive. The most important

thing is fruits and vegetables that will be harvested free from pesticides and it is good for

health and body to consume. On the other hands, gardening is really recommended as leisure

activity for adults and also kids because it is does not require too much physical energy for

older people and can be done casually during evening. Relatives or closed family members

can also involve by helping their grandparents in the garden and indirectly, this can enhance

stronger bonding between family members.

Secondly, another fun and leisure activity that can be done is by doing some physical

activity. Physical activities can be done indoor or outdoor environment according to

preferences. For elderly who are physically active and able to do intense workout, indoor

activity like weightlifting is good because its help to strengthen bone and prevent
osteoporosis. Besides that, it helps to boost metabolism and muscle mass. However, for

elderly who are novice, outdoor activity such as walking, jogging, and cycling are good to

start. Benefit of these exercises, it is good for physical and mental health because it keep us

fit, improve cardiovascular fitness, helps in weight loss, and improve mood. Outdoor activity

can be done at recreational park by wearing mask. Furthermore, perks of outdoor activity,

elderly can enjoy scenery and environment beside can interact with others that have common

interest such friends and family members. However, it is important to start any physical

activity with proper warm up and stretching to prevent any injury and we must keep an eye

on elderly to avoid anything that we never wanted. For elderly that unfit and unable to do any

physical activity, they can choose board game like playing chess and checker as alternatives

to enjoy during leisure time. By playing these, its help to keep mind sharp and improve

cognitive skills.

Thirdly, most elderly love to enjoy their retirement by having vacation and travelling

around the world. Some old folks might choose local destination and others might pick

overseas as their destination. However, since MCO, all borders are closed due to spreading of

the virus. Consequently,the numbers of tourism are dropping deadly and many international

flights are cancelled. Alternatively, elderly can pick up armchair travelling to replace physical

travelling during MCO. Armchair travelling is virtually transporting ourselves to another

place without leaving our own zone or home. For examples, watching travelling

documentary, vlog, or podcasts that are specially made for armchair travelling. By doing

these kind of activities as new norms, elderly could discover another country that they wish to

visit without taking flight.. Thanks to technology, now at tips of our finger, we can do

anything that is impossible turn out possible. By clicking our keyboard, we can assist elderly

to visit some interesting places. For instance, some elderly might have interest in arts and

museums, they could surf the Google Arts and Cultures online which will virtually take them
to explore many art collections from around the world. Moreover, there are few websites that

cast live broadcast such as African Wildlife Cam, North Pole Webcam and Eiffel Tower

Cam. Similarly, reading travelling books, journals or blogs are one of the ways of armchair

travelling. According to studies made by The Global on Aging and Transamerica Centre for

Retirement Studies, travelling and vacation can lower chance to have heart attack, depression

and can improve physical and mental health. It is very important to keep elder occupied,

prevent being isolated, loneliness and leads to depression. On the other hand, armchair

travelling is very convenient, less costly and can be participate at anytime and anywhere.

In conclusion, there are many leisure activities that people can do during MCO. For

examples, elderly having hobbies like gardening and plant flower around house area, do some

physical activity like weightlifting in gymnasium, jogging or cycling at the recreational park

and armchair travelling by watching and reading documentary related to travel. All these

activities will give pleasure and self-satisfied to keep elderly occupied and loose stress.

However, its time not just for elder but for all of us to start adapting to new normal hopefully

we can finally success to break the chain of spreading of Covid-19 in Malaysia and back to

old routine without been worried about Covid-19.