‘The statement [by The Malaysia Shopping Malls Association, Malaysia Retailers Association and Malaysia Retail Chain Association] claimed that the HIDE assessment is grossly unfair to shopping malls and retailers which have invested so much on safety and control and adhered to Covid-19-driven SOPs as determined by the authorities. "The earnest and diligent adherence to the SOPs at shopping malls would appear to have, unfortunately, back-fired and inadvertently punished the malls.
"We understand that the national [Covid-19] infection rate is 1.3% and from our own statistics, shopping malls’ infection rate is significantly below the national average,” the statement claimed. Citing data from the Health Ministry, the statement said the ministry’s data shows that factories, communities and construction sites constitute the top three locations where Covid-19 incidence is detected at 48.06%, 12.5% and 11.56% respectively.
‘As the ministry’s data shows that shopping areas only comprises 4.78%, the statement said clarification needs to be accurately provided as to the incidence of Covid-19 infections in shopping malls and areas. "It is obvious the HIDE information is incomplete and skewed and portrays a completely different picture than the real situation. "The information is incomplete as only those premises and operations that diligently comply with the SOPs and MySejahtera recording are data-mined. "Those sectors that do not comply and blatantly flout the SOPs are not evaluated for lack of data and thus do not appear as a hotspot, despite being so,” the statement claimed.’
Read here (The Edge, May 8, 2021)
