KUALA LUMPUR, May 19 — The Malaysia Plastic Manufacturers Association (MPMA) suggested today that the federal government consider stricter Covid-19 preventive measures instead of imposing a total lockdown in Selangor.

MPMA president Datuk Lim Kok Boon said a complete lockdown similar to movement control order introduced last year would devastate the state’s businesses and lead to job losses.

"MPMA would like to urge the authorities to consider a more stringent standard operating procedure (SOP) implemented to curb the spread of the Covid-19 infections instead of a complete lockdown.

"Prolonged closure of social and economic activities would have an adverse impact to the Malaysian economy. This can lead to business closures and the retrenchment of workers,” he said in a statement.

"A tighter SOP and stricter health guidelines which requires both the general public and the employers and employees of a workplace to follow accordingly have been proven to be an effective tool to curb the spread of Covid-19. A good example is the stringent SOPs implemented by the manufacturing sector,” he added.

The MPMA added that based on the statistics published by the Ministry of International Trade and Industry for the period beginning January 13 until March 4 2021, there were a total of 226 clusters in the manufacturing sector with 28,524 cases.

The group said together SOPs at the time brought the numbers down to 113 clusters with 9,271 cases between May 5 and May 5, which then declined to 31 clusters and 1,598 cases a month later.

The MPMA also urged Putrajaya to allow the private sector to participate in the purchase and administration of the vaccines.