Mohd Rezuan Othman would normally travel from Kuala Lumpur to his hometown in southern Malaysia to spend Eid al-Fitr with his family, but the country's latest nationwide COVID-19 lockdown has scuppered his plans for the second year in a row.
"I haven't gone back for Raya for nearly two years now and I haven't seen my parents in all that time," said the 40-year-old cook, using the Malay term for Eid. A surge in cases that started at the end of last year prompted the government to impose a state of emergency in January, and Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin on Monday, May 10, declared a month-long nationwide lockdown to deal with yet another spike.
Some, like Rusyan Sopian, think the travel restrictions make sense given health authorities have said the spike may be linked to the spread of more infectious variants.But beyond the disruption of social lives, the repeated lockdowns have become a threat to the livelihoods of Mohd Rezuan and many others in Malaysia.