KUALA LUMPUR, May 20 — De facto law minister Datuk Takiyuddin Hassan reportedly said the National Security Council (NSC) will deliberate tomorrow on whether to implement “total lockdown” in the face of rising Covid-19 cases and deaths in the country.

Several local media reported that Takiyuddin said Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin will chair the NSC meeting on the matter tomorrow.

“It is [one of the] measures which need to be deliberated upon by the NSC. Previously, we’ve had the movement control order (MCO), conditional MCO and recovery MCO.

“It could be decided during the NSC meeting tomorrow, which will also involve all the menteris besar and chief ministers,” he said as reported by local press at Kota Baru today.

The Health Ministry had reportedly proposed a full MCO akin to the ones in March and May of last year where only essential services were allowed to operate.

The debate on whether to implement the “total lockdown” has been hotly discussed by Malaysians especially after the record number of 6,075 new Covid-19 cases yesterday.

Several businesses groups and associations including The Federation of Malaysian Manufacturers (FMM) American Malaysian Chamber of Commerce (Amcham) and the EU-Malaysia Chamber of Commerce and Industry (Eurocham) rejected a total lockdown in lieu of more “enhanced type of the freer MCO 3.0” currently implemented.

Finance Minister Datuk Seri Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz yesterday said in a Facebook post that no country in the world has completely shut down their economies in the face of the second and third waves of Covid-19, focusing tightening their standard operating procedures (SOPs) and restricting social activities instead.