Revisiting nation's first Covid-19 hotspot - Simpang Renggam

“Team, are you okay?” hollered Dr Hanihaselah Mohd Saleh each time she wanted to do a “spot check” on her overworked staff’s enthusiasm levels.

Her concern was understandable as they had been slogging non-stop carrying out swab tests on hundreds of people at a makeshift Covid-19 testing centre at SK Dato' Ibrahim Majid in Simpang Renggam, Kluang Johor.

It was a daunting task for the Ministry of Health’s (MOH) healthcare team on duty there in March last year as they were experiencing a number of firsts.

It was then still the early days of an unprecedented global pandemic caused by a coronavirus that scientists all over the world were scrambling to decode and in Malaysia, Simpang Renggam was the first to be placed under an enhanced movement control order (MCO) on March 27, 2020, following the enforcement of the nationwide MCO on March 18 to curb the spread of Covid-19.

To be more specific, the enhanced MCO covered two areas in Simpang Renggam – Bandar Baru Dato' Ibrahim Majid and Kampung Dato' Ibrahim Majid, as well as several villages located within a 20km buffer zone – which had a...