COVID-19 Pandemic Management: A Review of the Digitalisation Leap in Malaysia

Abstract

The first cases of COVID-19 materialised in Malaysia in January 2020, and the trend of COVID-19 cases boosted remarkably. As the globe changes its usual services and norms with digitalisation, many countries have used information technology embedded within digitalisation to manage COVID-19. This applies specifically for containment and contact tracing among Malaysian citizens. Malaysia is one of the first countries in Southeast Asia to have designed digital applications to control and manage the COVID-19 pandemic, hence making it one of the top 50 nations under the UN’s 2020 E-Government Development Index (EGDI). This study intended to investigate the effectiveness of digitalisation in controlling the spread of COVID-19 outbreaks in Malaysia from 11 March to 9 June 2020 (90 days), with a specific focus on the aspects of containment and contact tracing. This research concluded that using digital applications and government administrative orders advised by national healthcare policy, through movement control orders (MCO) and conditional movement control orders (CMCO), slowed down the rate of COVID-19 cases in Malaysia. Similar endeavours by Malaysia’s neighbouring countries have also administered current technological advancements to battle the pandemic with healthcare efforts.