COVID-19: Malaysian business owners and trade groups urge against another full lockdown

KUALA LUMPUR: The automotive workshop owned by Mr Wong Tung Khong in Sungai Besi was quiet on Tuesday (Jan 26), with only a few employees servicing customers' cars. 

"This time last year, I wouldn't even have time to answer your questions because people wanted their cars serviced before going back to their hometowns for Chinese New Year," Mr Wong, 36, told CNA.This round, he said, his staff had remarked how quiet and less busy the workshop was. Unlike during the first movement control order (MCO) from March to May last year, Mr Wong's workshop is operational as usual in this current MCO, which is enforced nationwide in Malaysia except for Sarawak until Feb 4. Last year, when his workshop reopened as the country transitioned into conditional MCO (CMCO), he was busy with a backlog of requests from before the shutdown. Business then slowed down by October, when COVID-19 cases surged following the Sabah state election in September.