THE PROS AND CONS OF ALLOWING NON-ESSENTIAL TO OPERATE AT

THE TIME WHN CASES ARE AT ITS HEIGHT

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 Table of contents

1. Outline ……………………………………………………………………………………………..

2. Introduction………………………………………………………………………………………..

3. Pros & Cons Allowing Non-Essential Services During MCO

4. Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………………………

5. References ……………………………………………………………………………………………

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 1. Outline

Introduction
- Businesses and workers effected by the Covid-19 pandemic are being
supported initiatives. When people are categorised as essential or non-essential,
assistance and exposure pandemics varies.
- *Thesis Statement: Non-essential services in Malaysia are agonisingly under-
equipped for the Covid-19 lockdown. Implementing and providing assistance and
implementing steps for non-essential is also very vital.
Body
I. Deep trouble
A. Countries economy will be in a serious situation if all the firms are not
permitted and allowed to operate.
i. Example: Starting operations will be essential for the economic recovery
during the pandemic.
a) Sub-example (if any) : The longer companies remain shut, the harder it
will get for them to resume operations. Some companies may end up using all their
reserves, thus making it impossible for them to restart.

II. Economic refurbishing

A. The nations are expected to see 3% economic growth,” which is not very good”.
i. Example: The service sector, in particular should not be kept shut any
longer, given its large contribution to GDP
a) Sub-example (if any): Ninety-three per cent of those who took part in a
recent FMM poll on the lockdown's effect said it decreased local and export sales.
Conclusion
-Regardless of response to the Covid-19 pandemic, there are many benefits to
allowing non-essential services to operate. Due to restrictions, there is so much loss of
businesses as well as depleted country economic growth. Even the service sector will be
affected so much if not allowed to operate. Despite that, there will be the loses of
humans because of the virus outbreak.

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2. Introduction

COVID-19 is the disease caused by SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that emerged in

December 2019.COVID-19 can be severe and has caused millions of deaths around the
world as well as lasting health problems in some who have survived the illness. The
coronavirus can be spread from person to person. It is diagnosed with a laboratory test.
As of now, researchers know that the coronavirus is spread through droplets and virus
particles released into the air when an infected person breathes, talks, laughs, sings,
coughs or sneezes. Larger droplets may fall to the ground in a few seconds, but tiny
infectious particles can linger in the air and accumulate in indoor places, especially
where many people are gathered and there is poor ventilation. This is why mask-
wearing, hand hygiene and, physical distancing are essential to preventing COVID-19.
The first case of COVID-19 was reported on December 1, 2019, and the cause was a then-
new coronavirus later named SARS-CoV-2. SARS-CoV-2 may have originated in an
animal and changed (mutated) so it could cause illness in humans. In the past, several
infectious disease outbreaks have been traced to viruses originating in birds, pigs, bats,
and other animals that mutated to become dangerous to humans. Research continues,
and more studies may reveal how and why the coronavirus evolved to cause pandemic
disease.

Since January 2020, the medical response and preparedness to the outbreak in Malaysia
are overseen by the Director-General of Health Noor Hisham Abdullah under the Health
Ministry of three successive governments led by the Mahathir, Muhyiddin, and Ismail
Sabri Yakob cabinets. The first cases in Malaysia were confirmed among travelers from
China in Johor via Singapore on 25 January 2020 and continued to be limited to a few
imported cases until March 2020, when several local clusters emerged. The most
notable was a Tablighi Jamaat religious gathering in Sri Petaling, Kuala Lumpur that
sparked a massive spike in local cases and imported cases to neighboring countries. By
the end of March, the total number of cases had risen from below 30 to over 2,000
active cases across every state and federal territory in the country. In response to the
surge of cases in March 2020, the Malaysian government led by Prime Minister
Muhyiddin Yassin imposed a nationwide lockdown known as the Movement Control
Order (MCO), which came into effect on 18 March 2020. The MCO, which was original

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to be ended on 31 March 2020, was extended to early May 2020. By early May, the MCO
had led to a gradual decline in daily infections. The government progressively relaxed
lockdown restrictions in a staggered phase; beginning with the "Conditional Movement
Control Order" (CMCO) on 4 May 2020, which allows most business sectors to be
reopened under strict standard operating procedures (SOPs), followed by the "Recovery
Movement Control Order" (RMCO) on 10 June 2020.

The following restrictions implemented by Movement Control Order was separated into
two categories which are those providing vital services and those providing non-
essential ones. Essential industries that will continue operating on-site include
manufacturing essential goods, selected construction activities, essential government
services, agriculture, utilities, and security services. While there will be no stay-home
orders, the government encourages people to remain at their residences without
essential reasons. In terms of movement control, all non-essential workplaces,
commercial establishments, and services were ordered to close down, so that the
population nationwide will be confined to their homes and were only allowed to venture
out either to perform any official duty, to make a journey to and from any premises
providing essential services, to purchase, supply, or deliver food or daily necessities, to
seek healthcare or medical services, or for any other special purposes as may be
permitted by the Director-General of Health. Concerning public gatherings, all religious
services, wedding receptions, sports events, conferences, cinemas, and public gatherings
were disallowed during the MCO period. However, at the same time, there were
propositions about the economic slump and to help it boost, the government should give
some expectation to the vital and non-essential services provided by companies and
instead enable them to operate under SOP compliance requirements.

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3. Pros and Cons Allowing Non-Essential Services During MCO

The COVID-19 pandemic has hit the global economy with force. Many businesses across
the world are struggling to cope with the financial strain – with mounting pressures
placed on governments for more information on when society and businesses can return
to "normal".This of course can't happen overnight and it's likely to be months before life
completely returns to normal due to ongoing safety concerns and the need for continued
social distancing. To avoid "serious difficulty," all enterprises must be permitted to
restart operations by that date. Economic recovery hinges on reopening the services
sector, according to Dr Yeah Kim Leng, an economist at Sunway University. There is no
hesitancy to say that the services sector is a major driver of GDP and thus of economic
recovery. Million people are dependent on this industry, which contributes up to 56% of
GDP. Therefore, reopening it would help the economy get back on its feet faster, he
argues. Furthermore, it will give people the opportunity to boost and raise their
company or business. During this last 18 months or so, the movement control order has
sanctioned various limitations, forcing non-essential enterprises to stay closed and Only
"critical" businesses, including restaurants, pharmacies, and public transportation, have
been permitted to function, that also was under the strict adherence to standard
operating procedures (SOP) to reduce the spread of illnesses.

As you see, I agreed for the government to understand and grasp that all non-essential
businesses are important. The industry is most concerned with the prolonged closure of
the non-essential services sector, which represents the majority of Malaysian
businesses.Businesses are interconnected in their supply chain, where the operations of
the essential services sector need materials produced by the non-essential services
sector and vice versa. Because of this, some businesses in the essential services sector
have already encountered a shortage in the supply of materials from the non-essential
services sector. The government is urged to do away with the categorisation of
businesses into essential and non-essential services. All businesses should be allowed to
operate as long as they comply with the standard operating procedures (SOP). These
include getting workers vaccinated, ensuring strict adherence to SOP and carrying out
periodic Covid-19 screening of all employees. Moreover, some organizations may

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exhaust all of their reserves before they can resume. Others, he continued, maybe in
such debt that they find it impossible to restart their lives. We can go ahead
economically more quickly if we return for business before the end of the month.

The economist Dr Barjoyai Bardai of University Tun Abdul Razak said the nation is
expected to see only 3% economic growth, "which is not very good". He noted that while
businesses in several states may reopen under Phase 2 of the National Recovery Plan,
states that form the core of the nation's economy remain shut. " They may have to wait
until October and this can be fatal for our economy. We need to find other ways to fight
this virus while we re-open the economy," he told TheSun. In his personal opinion, he
suggested that buying screening equipment that can easily, quickly and cheaply detect
the virus may be the best way forward," he said. Barjoyai told that would make it
possible to determine who is unwell and stop them from going to work. He agreed that
the classification of essential and non-essential business is "not very clear" because
companies are interdependent on one another. The multiplier effect of businesses
staying shut could send economy to the verge of collapse," he added. The longer
companies remain shut, the harder it will get for them to resume operations. Some
companies may end up using all their reserves, thus making it impossible for them to
restart. Moreover, others could be deeply in debt that it becomes difficult for them to
start up again. He pointed out that the service sector, in particular, should not be kept
shut any longer, given its large contribution to GDP and also said that the country not
only needs a new policy but also a rethink of how it will fight the virus. " Covid -19 is not
going away. We will have to learn to live with it."

If the government doesn't allow non-essential manufacturing sectors to return to their

half previous position, the Federation of Malaysian Manufacturers (FMM) says they will
be forced to implement total closure of non-essential sectors. FMM president Soh Thian
Lai wrote to Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong to appeal for help, saying that regardless
of government allowances such as salary subsidies and automatic loan moratoriums,
lengthy industrial closures were harming companies. Micro, small, and medium-sized
businesses (MSMEs) in particular were devastated by the lengthy company closures.

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Ninety-three per cent of those who took part in a recent FMM poll on the lockdown's
effect said it decreased local and export sales. A massive 82% of those polled said
exports had dropped 30%, while 93% said cash flow had dried up as a result. Twenty-
one per cent encouraged their employees to take an unpaid vacation, twenty-three per
cent demanded salary cutbacks, and four per cent implemented lay off plans. In
addition, 77% believe that the business recovery would corrupt, while 49% believe that it
will be further delayed by six to twelve months. According to the results of the study, 56
per cent of employees plan to freeze their positions in the short to medium term, 39 per
cent plan to cut benefits, 34 per cent plan to decrease working hours/days, 22 per cent
want to further cut pay, and 8 per cent plan to further retrench in the midterm.

According to Soh, non-essential sector sales are remarkably destroyed and immensely
pressurized in their cash flow because orders, both current and future, are disrupted
with no validity on when operations may resume. Suppliers, on the other hand, expect to
be paid on time employees' recompense must be paid in full even if no actual work was
performed, utility and rental payments must be made, logistics costs have increased as a
result of cancellation or postponement of shipments or cargo stuck at ports, and
penalties have been imposed for delivery delays. Non-essential companies are
particularly at risk of going under, which would lead to widespread layoffs and
significant unemployment. As a result, there was concern that if firms were not
permitted to operate right away, many would be gone by the time they were allowed to
do so and contribute to the economy's recovery.

An assistant professor at the Carey Business School, Alessandro Rebucci, is examining

the benefits and disadvantages of regulating international capital flows and developing
new approaches for predicting financial crises. He contrasted China's enforced
lockdown during the first week of the pandemic to the first merciful limitations in the
United States and Europe. These nations'growth curves are substantially abrupt,
according to Rebucci. Continuing a liberal attitude to reopening might be risky since
history has shown that there is a real possibility of seeing a second wave of infection that
is far more severe than the first.

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Certain professions can be done better without interacting with others, according to
COVID-19's lessons. The relaxation of constraints for the good of the economy should
take these factors into account. It's important to start with people who aren't as
contagious as possible, according to Rebucci. When appropriate social distance isn't an
option, as in restaurants and movie theatres, we need to compensate by encouraging
companies and people.

As Smith School of Business Professor Roland Rust highlighted, the service industry has
been especially severely hit. We are seeing a lot of mom-and-pop' service retail outlets
getting utterly disintegrate. To provide an example, if someone has a tiny retail business,
they likely have a poor profit margin on the products they sell and so cannot sustain
long periods without any income.

The PPP loans in Malaysia have failed to help small firms get off the ground for most of
the parts. Large companies with solid ties with large banks are the ones to be successful
in obtaining the funds. Although 70% of US firms are expected to shut down and never
reopen, others may expand and emerge even stronger. Rust predicted that companies
with a lot of direct human interaction would struggle the most. Rust predicts difficulty
for fine dining and mass-seated restaurants shortly because even if rules are relaxed,
staff and customers will still be reluctant to come up. He added," I don't think you have
a company unless you have a client and someone to service that consumer". According
to Stanford Graduate School of Corporate Finance professor Paul Pfleiderer, how to
balance following medical professionals' advice against one's own life and business
interests is a tough subject to answer.

Furthermore, we don't know how deadly COVID-19 is or if particular age groups are
more protected, so Pfleiderer acknowledged that it's impossible to make an informed
decision. Some individuals are more eager than others to take a chance and try their
luck. Pfleiderer used the 1989 California earthquake to bolster his case. For over a year,
Pfleiderer claimed he drove cautiously to avoid being snagged under a bridge overhang
when traffic slowed. He predicted the same thing would happen. There will be some
individuals who avoid making eye contact with others because they are socially
awkward. That would be the worst-case scenario, we open something, but nothing

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occurs economically instead, the virus spreads rapidly again, making the next time we
try to do so much more difficult. Rebuilding and redeveloping the economy might have
huge economic benefits, but what are they? Rebucci concurs that fear is prevalent right
now. Medical conditions are much more under control, and the epidemic curve is
starting to flatten down and move into the "no danger" zone, according to one expert.
People are still afraid to take risks because the stakes are so high. That's why I believe a
great deal of thinking must go into how and when to reopen, but there is a danger of
fueling greater spread without significant economic benefits.

Things won't resume and continue exactly where we left them. Retail and service sector
employees have likely been laid off, and their situation will be difficult, as it has been for
many consumers. It is also possible that owners will not be able to reopen their
establishments, which would mean that their earnings would be lost forever and the
possibility of their business is bankrupt. As Rust pointed out, owners still owe rent and
other debts, and they were depending on income to help. They're in big difficulty now
that it's not coming in. As a result, the unemployment rate reaches historic lows
compared to the Great Depression which is was a severe worldwide economic
depression that took place mostly during the 1930s, beginning in the United States. If
this goes on like this we will soon be in the depths of a deep slump or misery for most of
our lives!

According to Pfleiderer, he said, "The fact that I don't have to make life and death or
economic choices makes me quite happy. Some people will be out on top. Increasing
demands has already helped food delivery services, grocery shops, and Internet
merchants greatly. Nevertheless, there will be many losers as well. From what Rust
mentioned, those who are out of work because their retail outlet has closed will not
contribute to the economy or recruit new employees. Henceforth, this contributes a
negative impact on the economic data.

From this moment forth, people will be considering travelling to countries to meet for
many hours when Zoom or Skype is just a click away. But when it comes to fatigues
caused by these apps, everyone will be eager to fly or travel. This project result may alter
because of these cultural norms. There is this term where change is inevitable but some

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of it may be seen as a positive development for the future. According to Rebucci,
companies will have to change in response to the prolonged crisis. A certain amount of
innovation and technologies are likely to survive beyond the current timeframe.

4. Conclusion

Regardless of response to the Covid-19 pandemic, there are many benefits to allowing
non-essential services to operate. Due to restrictions, there is so much loss of businesses
as well as depleted country economic growth. Even the service sector will be affected so
much if not allowed to operate. Despite that, there will be the loses of humans because
of the virus outbreak.

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