Letter from Kuala Lumpur

Tears, fears and frustration during Malaysia's Covid-19 lockdown

Shah (second from left) and his wife Siti had travelled 300km by motorbike from their home in Tanah Merah to Penang in hopes of finding work but still ended up sleeping on the streets. PHOTO: STEVEN SIM/FACEBOOK
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KUALA LUMPUR - Navigating confusing rules and glitchy apps that govern everything from whether people are allowed to go to work, to where they can shop and how to get themselves vaccinated, has been an exercise in fear and confusion for most Malaysians under the latest lockdown.

Last month, thousands of them jabbed, many fruitlessly, at their devices trying to land an AstraZeneca vaccine for Covid-19 when doses became available. As I have yet to see any sign of my appointment under the national vaccination programme for either the Pfizer-BioNTech or the Sinovac vaccine even as cases continued to climb, count me among them.

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