PETALING JAYA: Malaysians must learn to live with Covid-19 for the next 12 to 18 months or more until an effective vaccine is developed and widely available, DAP leader Lim Kit Siang (pix) said today.

The most important lesson of the Movement Control Order (MCO) is that, and social distancing is the most important new normal in the post-pandemic era, he pointed out.

“Today marks the end of the four-week MCO and the beginning of the second extension of the MCO till April 28,” he said in a statement.

“Life in Malaysia or the world cannot return to pre-Covid-19 pandemic even after the lifting of the MCO.”

Lim said we should have been spared the second wave of the Covid-19 outbreak, as the first wave of the outbreak registered single-digit daily increases and reached a total of 22 cases from Jan 24 to Feb. 16.

In the 10 days from Feb 16 – 26, there was no new case of Covid-19, the MP for Iskandar Puteri said.

“We must learn the expensive lesson of our inattention and negligence which allowed the second wave of the Covid-19 outbreak to take place and caused the imposition of the MCO on March 18.

“Hopefully we have passed the peak of the second wave of the Covid-19 outbreak, as with the imposition of the MCO, we have avoided the worst prognosis made by JP Morgan and the Malaysian Institute of Economic Research (MIER),” he added.