Impact of COVID-19 on marine fisheries supply chains: Case study of Malaysia

The purpose of this chapter is to examine university employees' academic and non-academic experiences while working from home during the movement control order (MCO) period (implemented due to the COVID-19 pandemic). The study focuses on experiences related to four issues: communication, situational factors, believes and attitudes, and homework interference. It also examines the perceived outcomes (in terms of productivity) of working from home (WFH). Empirical data were collected from university staff using a survey questionnaire distributed online. The findings suggest that communication among family members increased during the MCO period. Employees have the basic resources necessary to work from home. They believe that WFH allowed them to enjoy flexible working hours and save travelling time and expenses. In addition, they believe that their productivity increased as a result of their family's support while working from home. These findings will help university management to plan future WFH arrangements beyond the MCO period.

With the increase of the new COVID-19 cases, the Movement Control Order (MCO) was introduced in Malaysia on March 18, 2020. It requires the closure of all businesses except those providing essential services and goods. The daily life of Malaysians changed tremendously due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and all Malaysians had to adapt to the new normal. Thus, Malaysians turn to media channels to acquire authentic news and information. The entertainment media channel also changes its role in providing news and stories to Malaysians. This study focused on the use of entertainment media channels during the period of the MCO in Malaysia. A total of 10 informants were interviewed using a qualitative approach. Data were transcribed verbatim. The results of this study found that during MCO, Malaysians uses entertainment media channels as the new normal, as a means of entertainment, to read the news online, play online games and generate income on digital platform and watch free TV channels. In conclusion, media entertainment channels have contributed to reducing the stress faced by Malaysians and to provide authentic information throughout the MCO period.

Building responsive and resilient supply chains: Lessons from the <scp>COVID</scp>‐19 disruption

Blood supply management during the Covid-19 pandemic: Experience in a tertiary referral hospital in Malaysia

Introduction: The Malaysian government implemented MCO or lockdown for nearly 3 months from 18 Mar to 9 Jun 2020 in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. This restricted access to usual food, workplace, and leisure sports, and also led to reduced clinic attendance. The effects of MCO on patients with chronic lifestyle diseases like DM is unknown. Methodology: This is a cross-sectional study exploring effects of MCO on adult (>18 years) DM patients (both Type 1 and Type 2) attending endocrinologist-run DM clinics in 3 tertiary centres in Malaysia. Glycaemic and metabolic parameters were collected through medical record review while data on healthcare utilisation, dietary and lifestyle habits before MCO (17 Nov 2019 to 17 Mar 2020) and during MCO were collected by investigator-administered questionnaires during routine clinic follow-up after the MCO period (10 Jun to 30 Oct 2020). Results: From a total of 207 patients (56.5% female, 73.4% T2D and 80% on insulin) no significant difference between mean (SD) A1c [8.6(2.39) % vs 8.4(2.14) %; p=0.073] or BMI [29.2(7.57) vs 29.4(9.23)kg/m2; p=0.968] were seen before and during MCO respectively. More than 95% of the patients attended clinic before MCO and at least 20.3% saw either the DM nurse educator, DM pharmacist or dietitian. In contrast, during MCO only 31.4% of patients attended clinic and less than 10% had face-to-face consultation with the DM support team. More patients also reported missing insulin (11.6% vs 7.7%) and not checking blood glucose (17.9% vs 15.5%) during MCO. Before MCO, 61.8% of patients had home-cooked food daily. During MCO this increased to 83.1%. However, there was a trend towards unhealthy eating during MCO. Patients reported eating more frequently with those eating more than 4 meals a day nearly tripled during MCO (18.4% vs 6.8%). In addition, 22% of patients recalled consuming more confectionary; a similar percentage also reported higher consumption of processed food like dry snacks, canned food and instant noodles during MCO. Mean (SD) hours of sleep [6.8 (1.35) vs 7.2 (1.73) hours; p<0.001] and screen time [3.3 (2.51) vs 4.51 (3.10] hours, p< 0.001) increased significantly during MCO compared to before. Notably, before MCO 44% of patients reported no exercise and this increased to 65.7% during MCO. Conclusion: Despite reduced clinic attendance and contact with the DM support team, there were no consequent significant change in A1c or BMI of our DM patients from the 3-month MCO in our short term study. However, a worrying increase in sedentariness and unhealthy eating existed. The imperative need to conduct work or lessons online, among others contributed to the inevitable rise in screen time and reduced physical activity. As the pandemic continues with imposed movement restrictions, the long-term implications of MCO to metabolic health warrant our attention. Innovative strategies to promote healthier living during MCO are urgently needed.

Purpose This paper aims to investigate the impact of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic on university students during the Movement Control Order (MCO) and Recovery Movement Control Order (RMCO). MCO was introduced in March 2020, and the learning process switched from face-to-face to online learning in schools and universities. Subsequently, with the reduced number of daily cases and active cases of COVID-19, the Malaysian Government implemented RMCO from 10th June to 31st December 2020, which had more relaxation of restrictions. This study particularly focuses on students studying in higher education institutions by analysing the impacts of the community of inquiry on students learning performance. The construct of the community of inquiry includes social presence, cognitive presence and teaching presence. Design/methodology/approach This paper provides quantitative analysis, independent sample t-tests and multiple linear regression on the students’ learning performance using the framework of community of inquiry. This paper presents the analysis of the online learning preference of 282 university students during MCO and 456 students during RMCO. Findings The results showed that there is a significant difference in students learning process during MCO and RMCO. The findings also indicated that the social presence is the most important factor in affecting learning performance during the MCO period and it changed to teaching presence during RMCO. Students lost motivation and could not perform well using online learning methods during the MCO period but the situation improved during RMCO. Research limitations/implications This research helps to identify the impact of the pandemic on higher education and provides insights into reshaping the future of higher education system. Practical implications Students are isolated from their peers in the learning process and struggle to adapt to the new normal in online learning. The teaching faculties are picking up new skills to deliver online courses and manage the risk as best as they can. This study presented the impact of the pandemic on students learning performance and explored the space for universities as business organizations to provide better infrastructures and platforms for online learning while battling with cash flow and debt level during this challenging time. Social implications Students need peer support and guidance from the faculty team in their learning journey. The study provides a better understanding of how we shall promote a better higher education environment, either blended or online learning. Originality/value To the best of the author’s knowledge, this is the first study to examine the impact of the community of inquiry on students learning performance during the COVID-19 pandemic. Students suffered during the MCO period and the learning experience got better when they were able to adapt to the changes. The higher education system needs a reform and the agency theory in corporate governance plays an important role in the transformation.

The Movement Control Order (MCO) has been enforced on 18th March 2020 following the COVID-19 pandemic in Malaysia. This MCO is hoped that it is able to lower the number of infection cases in Malaysia. However, some groups of societal members were found as non-compliant with the MCO as reported by the online news. The objective of this research was to identify the display category on the news of non-compliant citizens in MCO period. Data analysis had been performed on online news starting from 18th March 2020 until 28th April 2020 which is based on MCO Phase 1 up to Phase 3. More than 100 online news headlines about MCO violation had been analysed using content analysis method based on Social Interaction Theory. The research outcome has found that social interaction plays a vital role in non-compliance issue within the enforcement period of MCO as reported by online news. The categories for non-compliance of MCO are as follows i) Movement without a valid reason, ii) Sports and recreational activities, iii) Religious activities, iv) Visiting and having feast, v) Chatting at restricted area, vi) Drugs-related violation, vii) Crime involvement and police record, viii) Gambling and Entertainment, ix) Intake of drinks leading to intoxication and imagination and x) Violation by foreigners. The use of social interaction theory in this research has clearly illustrated that non-compliance of MCO shows self-control of the perpetrator as a result of social control is very weak. Generally, the violation of MCO has a relationship with the environment of social interaction. Social interaction has a conflict that leads to deviant act which causes the breach of rules and norms.

A novel coronavirus; COVID-19 is posing a great threat to mankind worldwide. The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared the deadly pathogen as a pandemic in view of its alarming spread. Literature affirms that universities have a higher potential to be centres of a pandemic outbreak. The infectious disease could easily transmit from one person to many others within a university vicinity, thus creating a cluster if not properly contained. The Malaysian government has imposed the movement control order (MCO) to flatten the curve of infection. All economic sectors were closed during the MCO period. This study was conducted to explore the knowledge, attitude and health practices towards COVID-19 among internal stakeholders of a public university in Malaysia. An online survey was carried out on the first week of MCO. A total of 340 respondentsD comprised of students and staffs took part in the survey. The regression analysis found knowledge and attitude were significant predictors for adopting appropriate health practices among the internal stakeholders during the new coronavirus outbreak. This present study extends the existing literature on health crisis focusing on internal stakeholders of an institute of higher learning particularly during an early phase of MCO in Malaysia.

Both academic institutions and schools were required to conduct online learning during the Movement Control Order (MCO) period. This study aims to identify Universiti Teknologi Mara (UiTM) Terengganu’s branch students’ perceptions of teaching and learning (T&amp;L) during MCO. The preferred technology framework for T&amp;L during the MCO period is also identified in this report. Furthermore, this study identifies the factors that influenced the choice of said application. The respondents were 256 UiTM Terengganu students from eight specialisations. Data were gathered through the use of online questionnaires administered through Google Forms. According to the findings, students had a generally positive attitude toward the online learning process but were less satisfied with its effectiveness. In terms of application selection, the university’s teaching and learning platform, Ufuture system, comes in first, followed by Google Classroom, Telegram, and WhatsApp. This study also discussed the strategies for improving the effectiveness of technology utilisation to optimise e-learning.

COVID-19 pandemic is the greatest communicable disease outbreak to have hit Malaysia since the 1918 Spanish Flu which killed 34,644 people or 1% of the population of the then British Malaya. In 1999, the Nipah virus outbreak killed 105 Malaysians, while the SARS outbreak of 2003 claimed only 2 lives. The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has so far claimed over 100 Malaysian lives. There were two waves of the COVID-19 cases in Malaysia. First wave of 22 cases occurred from January 25 to February 15 with no death and full recovery of all cases. The ongoing second wave, which commenced on February 27, presented cases in several clusters, the biggest of which was the Sri Petaling Tabligh cluster with an infection rate of 6.5%, and making up 47% of all cases in Malaysia. Subsequently, other clusters appeared from local mass gatherings and imported cases of Malaysians returning from overseas. Healthcare workers carry high risks of infection due to the daily exposure and management of COVID-19 in the hospitals. However, 70% of them were infected through community transmission and not while handling patients. In vulnerable groups, the incidence of COVID-19 cases was highest among the age group 55 to 64 years. In terms of fatalities, 63% were reported to be aged above 60 years, and 81% had chronic comorbidities such as diabetes, hypertension, and heart diseases. The predominant COVID-19 strain in Malaysia is strain B, which is found exclusively in East Asia. However, strain A, which is mostly found in the USA and Australia, and strain C in Europe were also present. To contain the epidemic, Malaysia implemented a Movement Control Order (MCO) beginning on March 18 in 4 phases over 2 months, ending on May 12. In terms of economic impacts, Malaysia lost RM2.4 billion a day during the MCO period, with an accumulated loss of RM63 billion up to the end of April. Since May 4, Malaysia has relaxed the MCO and opened up its economic sector to relieve its economic burden. Currently, the best approach to achieving herd immunity to COVID-19 is through vaccination rather than by acquiring it naturally. There are at least two candidate vaccines which have reached the final stage of human clinical trials. Malaysia's COVID-19 case fatality rate is lower than what it is globally; this is due to the successful implementation of early preparedness and planning, the public health and hospital system, comprehensive contact tracing, active case detection, and a strict enhanced MCO.

BackgroundThe COVID-19 pandemic has led to a significant increase in the prevalence of stress worldwide. However, the extent and factors associated with psychological distress during COVID-19 among the local population in Kedah, Malaysia, have not been adequately explored. This study aimed to determine the prevalence and factors associated with stress among the adult population in Kedah, Malaysia, during the COVID-19 pandemic.Materials and methodsWe conducted a cross-sectional study using a retrospective record review. A simple random sampling was applied among the adult population of Kedah who were screened for mental health well-being from January 2021 until March 2022. A proforma checklist that consists of sociodemographic and clinical factors and the date of screening was used to collect the data. A descriptive and multiple logistic regression was conducted, and analysis was done by SPSS version 26 (IBM Inc., Armonk, New York). The dependent variables were the presence of stress incorporated self-reported symptoms ranging from mild to very severe. The independent variables were sociodemographic, clinical factors, and movement control order period, which refers to the period when the state of Kedah experienced all the different phases of movement control order (MCO), which were from 1 January 2021 until 28 June 2021.ResultsIn total, 562 adults were included. The mean age was 31.75 years, and the majority were female (69.6%). The prevalence of stress was 45.7% (95% CI 41.6%, 49.8%), with a total of 257 people. The majority of them did not have stress, consisting of 305 people (54.3%), followed by 69 people (12.3%) who reported severe stress, 67 people (11.9%) who reported moderate, 66 people (11.7%) who reported mild, and 55 people (9.8%) who reported very severe stress. The significant factor associated with stress among the adult population in Kedah, Malaysia, during the COVID-19 pandemic was the female gender (Adj OR 3.035 95% CI: 2.007 to 4.591, p-value <0.001). Being unemployed (Adj OR 2.171 95% CI: 1.480 to 3.185, p-value <0.001) and being under movement control order period was also associated with stress (Adj OR 0.383 95% CI: 0.264 to 0.555, p-value <0.001).ConclusionThe prevalence of stress among the adult population during the COVID-19 pandemic in Kedah was 45.7%, with a total of 257 people, higher than other studies. Being female and unemployed was associated with stress, while the movement control order period was a protective factor against stress. Preventive strategies should be tailored based on the vulnerabilities of these groups, such as the development of more effective community-based interventions for safeguarding the mental health of the general public during future pandemics.

Introduction: Declaration of movement control order (MCO) during pandemic of COVID-19 has inflicted challenges in maintaining mental health of world population, including university students. Being inactive is among the reasons for mental disturbance among university students during the MCO period. Physically active has been demonstrated as a coping mechanism to improve mental health. The lifting of MCO supposed to recover the mental health status among the university students as they can return to have an active life. However, the status of mental health and level of physical activity among university students after the MCO period is not well reported.&#x0D; Objective: This study aimed to identify the mental health status and level of physical activity among undergraduate students in International Islamic University Malaysia Kuantan Campus and the association between these parameters.&#x0D; Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 243 undergraduate students in International Islamic University Malaysia Kuantan Campus who were recruited using stratified random sampling. The questionnaires used to collect data consisted of three parts which were socio-demographical data, DASS-21 questionnaire and IPAQ-SF questionnaire. The data on socio-demographical characteristics were presented in frequency and percentage. The mental health status and level of physical activity were identified by determining the mean score of each parameter. The association between parameters were analysed using Chi-square test.&#x0D; Results: The study found that most respondents have normal level of depression (55.1%), anxiety (42.8%) and stress (65.4%). Most respondents also practiced vigorous physical activity (47.3%). However, no significant association were found between depression, anxiety, stress and physical activity that may be due to inadequate sample size.&#x0D; Conclusion: The study found that mental health status among undergraduate students in International Islamic University Malaysia Kuantan Campus after MCO period was at normal level and living in active lifestyle, though no significant association were found between these parameters.

Background: COVID-19 was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization on 11 March 2020. From the beginning of the pandemic, there was no effective pharmaceutical intervention to halt or hold up the spread of this novel disease. Therefore, most countries, including Malaysia, resorted to break the chain of transmission by restricting population mobility through the implementation of the Movement Control Order (MCO). We aim to determine the population mobility trend across the various phases of the MCO during the COVID-19 pandemic in Malaysia by studying the confirmed COVID-19 cases with the Google mobility data. Methodology: The average mobility percentage changes in Retail and Recreation, Grocery and Pharmacy, Parks, Transit Stations, and Workplaces were the components studied in relation to the various MCO phases and daily COVID-19 confirmed cases. The percentage difference was calculated by subtracting the average percentage changes for each MCO phases from the pre-MCO level. Additionally, the percentage difference was also calculated for inter-MCO phases as well. Results: The average mobility percentage changes reduced most drastically during the MCO phases across all the mobility components as compared to the other phases. The average mobility percentage changes in comparison to the pre-MCO levels across Retail and Recreation, Grocery and Pharmacy, Parks, Transit Stations, and Workplaces was −45.8%, −10.6%, −27.7%, −60%, and −34.3%, respectively. In addition, the average mobility percentage changes increased the most during CMCO as compared to MCO. Discussions: Malaysia implemented multiple measures to contain the COVID-19 pandemic since January 2020, culminating in the execution of the MCO. Though doubts on the effectiveness of the MCO were raised at the early stage of its implementation as mass movements persisted, strict enforcement and improved awareness of the impacts of COVID-19 brought significant improvement in compliance, which has been deemed the main reason behind the decrease in new COVID-19 cases since mid-April of 2020. Conclusion: Based on the downtrends of new and active COVID-19 cases, it can be concluded that the MCO has been effective, provided that compliance to the MCO is maintained. This study could serve to a certain degree to governments and policy makers as a tool to consider the relaxation of the lockdown conditions.

SME restaurants have reported declined earnings and faced challenges to remain open during the Movement Control Order (MCO) period imposed by the Malaysian government due to the Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak. SME decision-makers were observed to be making changes regarding their day-to-day operations and management strategies to mitigate MCO restrictions. This paper aims to review the significant adaptations made by SME restaurants in Malaysia throughout the MCO period. Three (3) prominent areas of adaptations made by decision-makers have been identified based upon ceaseless news reports and media contents. The adaptations made commonly depict actions to (i) Nurture Creativity, (ii) Sustain Reputation, and (iii) Maintain Profitability. The outcomes of this paper provide essential survival guides for SME restauranteurs to embrace the COVID-19 outbreak. These can be helpful to related policy and decision-makers to implement the crucial traits of SME restaurants to reduce the impact on SME restaurants for the foreseeable future.

In December 2019, the outbreak of Covid-19 does cause a lot of serious issues, fatality, economic crisis, the rise of the unemployment rate, air pollution, and so on. This paper focuses on the impact of Covid-19 that relates to the long-lasting issue of air quality. The scope of this study is focused on the changing of air quality that occurred within the Movement Control Order (MCO) which was launched by the Malaysian government against Covid-19 spreading in Malaysia. Multiple reports suggest during the MCO period, the overall air quality in Malaysia was improved. However, when we just look into the history of air quality index (AQI) value without doing any further analysis, we can see there is no significant difference between the AQI value since the MCO was executed. Therefore, we need to understand how AQI value is obtained and compare available data before MCO is launched to the first three phases of MCO. This paper estimates the impact of MCO towards reduction of moving vehicles which can give impact to air quality in terms of 24-hours PM2.5 concentrations. Air quality index data have been analyzed by developed code using MATLAB. From the investigating and analyzing the data conducted, we found out the impact of MCO on the air quality in Malaysia is positive.