Ban visiting this Hari Raya Aidilfitri

Hari Raya Aidilfitri is just around the corner and many Muslims celebrating this holiday are going to be eager to celebrate like normal; pre-Covid-19 normal. However, it would be a huge mistake for anyone to do this.

The Director General of Health, Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah, as well as other doctors and experts have been warning the rakyat that there is a distinct possibility that Malaysia could be hit with a second wave of Covid-19 infections if people do not follow the “new normal” that the government has been emphasising now that the Movement Control Order (MCO) has become a Conditional Movement Control Order (CMCO).

Furthermore, the Health DG has also said that studies have shown that asymptomatic Covid-19 patients carry the same virus load as those exhibiting symptoms. This means that asymptomatic covid-19 patients have the same chance of spreading the disease as those who are symptomatic. They have also found that out of all the people infected with Covid-19, about 50% of them do not show symptoms of having the disease.

Taking into consideration the above, the government should not be allowing those celebrating Hari Raya Aidilfitri to visit their friends and family this year. The government should not be telling them that visiting is okay as long as not more then 20 people are in a home at once or that people should be practicing “self-curfew” on Hari Raya.

Banning people from attempting to “balik kampung” is not enough. The government should also ban people from doing any sort of visiting with their family and friends. Those celebrating Hari Raya Aidilfitri should only be allowed to do so with their immediate family that are already at home.

The Consumers’ Association of Penang (CAP) believes that these restrictions are necessary this festive season so that we may (hopefully) celebrate freely with joy and gusto next year and beyond that.

CAP asks that the government ban any sort of visiting this Hari Raya Aidilfitri as part of the effort to stop a second wave of Covid-19 infections from happening.

Press Statement, 19 May 2020