[Transcript]

Hello everyone, my name is Suzanne Sangiovese and I am the Commercial and Communications Director at Riskline, a travel risk intelligence company.

Riskline has more than a decade of experience working remotely as a geographically-distributed team and today, we operate in more than 12 countries and across nine different time zones. With our global team we thought we’d try something new and take a deeper look at local perspectives on the COVID-19 pandemic.

This morning I’m speaking with Aaron Kunaraja, the Senior Analyst for the APAC region at Riskline. Aaron currently resides in Kuala Lumpur and was planning to move to Melbourne before travel restrictions were put in place.

Suzanne Sangiovese: First of all, Aaron, how are you and your family doing right now? What’s the situation like for you in Malaysia?

Aaron Kunaraja: Hi Suzanne, my wife and I are doing well. In Malaysia we are under a Movement Control Order, which is what the government calls it, but it is essentially a lockdown. Foreigners are not allowed in, and Malaysians are not allowed to go out of the country. We are only allowed to go out to buy essentials such as groceries, and only one person is allowed to go out. Checkpoints manned by police and army personnel have been set-up at arterial roads across Kuala Lumpur and other cities in the country. No gatherings of any sort are allowed and only essential businesses are allowed to operate. Restaurants remain open but can only deliver food or do takeaways. Public transport has also been limited and interstate travel is effectively prohibited. We are now in the second phase of the MCO, which was initially implemented on 14 March and was supposed to last for two weeks, but it has been extended to 14 April. Together measures have been implemented, including not allowing cars on the road past 8 pm. These measures have already been extended until 28 April. Currently I think Malaysia has over 4,600 confirmed cases, with 77 deaths. Authorities however have indicated that the curve is gradually flattening due to the restrictions.

You were planning to move to Melbourne, Australia, right before the pandemic occurred and travel restrictions were put in place. What’s the effect been on you? Logistically due you know if officials will honour visas already in place?

Yes we were supposed to move to Melbourne in March but the pandemic has thrown a wrench into all our plans. A few days before we were supposed to fly, Malaysia implemented the MCO and stopped all Malaysians from leaving the country. Shortly after that, Australia closed its borders to foreign nationals. It was something I should have expected given the rapid spread of the virus and how governments were constantly updating restrictions as the pandemic progressed. However, it was still disheartening because we were looking forward to this move for a while now. So far the airlines have been very accommodating and have allowed us to change our flights at no extra cost until the borders re-open. For now our visas are not affected as they are valid until the end of 2024.

Are you seeing a difference in the way authorities are handling the situation in Malaysia versus Australia?

From what I’ve been reading from the news and my own personal experience here in Malaysia, authorities in Australia seem to be more flexible, i.e. allowing people to go out for exercises. There have also been some concerns here in Malaysia that the guidelines given under the MCO have not been particularly clear and that violators have been treated harshly in certain instances. Nevertheless, authorities in both countries seem to be doing a very good job in enforcing stay-at-home measures and containing the virus so far.

You’ve been leading our analyst team to ensure our Special Report is updated daily. From an analyst perspective, what’s it been like to monitor the pandemic from its beginning in China to where we are today?

It has been surreal really, as during the initial stages I did not expect to actually “live through” what we were covering. Many of us did not expect the virus to spread as rapidly and as far and wide as it has today. In terms of covering the pandemic for the SR as well as alerts, it has been very hectic since February when the virus started to spread more rapidly. In the initial stages it was more of a rush to gather as much information as possible and put it out there for clients. There was a lot of tidying up and formatting to do once we realised this SR will be a major part of our work for the foreseeable future. Gradually, we began to refine our process and through constant communication and discussion with other analysts, I can comfortably say that we have reached a stage where our SR is very well put together and is updated regularly. Right now, our coverage of the pandemic has somewhat stabilised, as a number of countries have reached their peak transmission rates and we can see a flattening of the curve in many places. Nevertheless, staying on top of developments related to the pandemic is still priority number one for us here at Riskline, as the virus continues to affect the world at large.

What coping strategies are you implementing at home to deal with this unprecedented situation?

Aaron: I try to spend time walking around the garden in our compound, playing board games with family members also help. I also try to maintain regular contact with close friends through video-calls. We have had a number of weekend catch-up and drink sessions. Exercising also helps relieve the stress of cabin fever. Last but not least, definitely a lot of binge watching on Netflix and Amazon Prime.