Mr Ahmad Hazriq Isa has spent the past seven days surviving only on bread, instant noodles and biscuits while looking for a new job.
The 26-year-old became unemployed for the second time this year, just minutes after the Malaysian government announced last Monday that it would re-implement movement curbs in the capital city Kuala Lumpur, neighbouring Selangor state, and the administrative capital Putrajaya, as it fights a third wave of Covid-19.
The Conditional Movement Control Order (CMCO) kicked in last Wednesday for two weeks, closing down schools and the courts as classes and trial hearings moved online, with a ban on inter-district and inter-state travel.
"I lost my job about 45 minutes after the announcement. My boss pulled me aside and told me that he can no longer afford to pay me. This is my second time losing a job due to the pandemic," Mr Hazriq told The Sunday Times. He lives in Klang, Selangor, a district hard hit by the current Covid-19 wave.
Mr Hazriq was a railway technician before he was laid off in March when the government first imposed a partial shutdown, which saw most Malaysians staying at home as schools and non-essential businesses had to close.
He then joined a mobile phone company as an administration officer and salesman after the curbs were gradually relaxed in May. But this did not last long.
"Things were initially improving from May onwards, but when the number of new cases soared, we struggled to break even. Everyone got scared because of the high number of infections so they stopped visiting the mall where we're located. Now I'm back to square one - being jobless," he said.
Ms Soraya Rahman, 22, who had joined a market research firm earlier this year, found out in the past week that she would no longer have a job by next month.
"They broke the news to me on the first day of the CMCO. They are laying off a lot of people," she said.
Malaysia has been recording triple-digit cases daily since late last month, soaring to a record high of 869 yesterday, with four more deaths to 180.
While businesses are still allowed to operate, many are barely staying afloat as people stay home for fear of contracting the virus.
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Three main clusters
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Utama
The index case in the Utama cluster was a Nepalese security guard at the 1Utama shopping mall who tested positive on Oct 8.
As of yesterday, there were 177 cases linked to this cluster, spread across several districts in Selangor including Gombak, Petaling and Hulu Langat, and appearing in Alor Gajah, Melaka too.
Jalan Meru
The Jalan Meru cluster in Klang, Selangor originated from a 30-year-old Malaysian man who tested positive on Sept 29.
Several sub-districts in Klang were placed under a conditional movement control order from Oct 9, a few days before the controls were imposed on the whole state.
At least 118 people have been infected from this cluster, with cases in Selangor, Kuala Lumpur, Putrajaya, Kelantan, Johor and Pahang.
Bah Tropicana
The Bah Tropicana cluster in Petaling, Selangor was detected when the index case tested positive after returning from Sabah, one of the country's worst-hit states, on Oct 2. At least 37 cases have been traced to this cluster, including those residing at the Tropicana Golf and Country Resort's staff dormitories.
Hazlin Hassan
Hawker Lao Yao Kee, 53, said: "I barely recovered (from the first round of curbs). I used up my savings to survive until I was allowed to reopen my stall in May. It was getting better for a bit until the cases went up again. I'm just glad I can still operate.
"I now get the contacts of my customers so that I can send them daily promotions. Getting 60 per cent to 70 per cent less sales than what I'm used to is still something, as I'm on the verge of being penniless."
Many malls in the Klang Valley were seen empty, with several reporting fewer customers even before the partial shutdown commenced.
One store at the Suria KLCC shopping mall said it began closing early at 9.30pm a few weeks ago, instead of the usual 10pm, as business had dived by more than 50 per cent since one positive case was reported at a gym in the mall last month. "We used to see some 200 customers a day, but now we get around 70. The office crowd has fizzled out, and even on the weekends it's quiet," said a worker at the store.
Many companies have been operating in a work-from-home mode since mid-March, and some had begun re-implementing this a few days before the CMCO, following the surge in cases.
Stores remain open under the CMCO but only two people per household are allowed to venture out to shop. Some stores were seen closing early at 8pm during the CMCO.
Some people had expected that some form of lockdown would be imposed as case numbers rose, and had been slowly stocking up on groceries and household supplies. Grocery delivery slots were snapped up several days before the CMCO was announced.
On Wednesday, the first day of the CMCO, the streets of Kuala Lumpur and Selangor were quieter than usual and fewer commuters were seen taking trains to work.
But some customers are happy though with the lack of crowds, and a number of shops are offering freebies and vouchers to lure shoppers back to the malls.
Epidemiologist Awang Bulgiba Awang Mahmud of Universiti Malaya said it could take up to six weeks for Selangor to see an improvement, and that the government may extend the CMCO.
"It is likely that it will take a few weeks more for Selangor to see a significant drop in cases. Maybe four to six weeks," Professor Datuk Dr Awang Bulgiba told ST.
Selangor has the highest Covid-19 reproduction number (Rt) of 1.99 as new cases surge in the state. It recorded 159 cases yesterday.
The Rt refers to the infection rate and estimates the average number of people that one patient can infect.
Prof Awang Bulgiba said if the justification for the CMCO was Selangor's high Rt, then it may be extended.
"I do not think it will come down to less than one so soon. So it is likely that the CMCO will be extended ."
