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The Covid-19 pandemic rages on.

The once bustling shopping malls have become dead places, no thanks to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Mall retailers had finally heaved a sigh of relief when the number of Covid-19 cases stayed low as Malaysia entered the recovery movement control order (RMCO) in June.

Chris Chong, IOI Properties Group Bhd’s Mall Operations senior general manager "All roadshows, activities and events were stopped during the first MCO and subsequently CMCO from March 18 until June 14, 2020.

Sara Fang Horton, UEM Sunrise Bhd’s head of retail strategy “There is a pronounced drop in footfall and our tenants’ sales when the CMCO in the Klang Valley was announced on Oct 14.

The third wave of Covid-19 in Malaysia has shaken shoppers’ confidence and also become the final straw that has broken the camel’s back for some retailers, in turn hurting the mall operators’ rental revenue and future expansion plans.

KOTA KINABALU (Nov 6): Sutera Harbour Resorts (SHR) in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah said the company is not related to the Sutera cluster which was reported by the Ministry of Health earlier on Nov 5, 2020.

While the outlook of shopping malls in the near term remains bleak due to the third wave of Covid-19 and intense competition of online shopping, Henry Butcher Retail managing director Tan Hai Hsin is optimistic that shopping malls are still relevant in the long run.

On a Saturday afternoon two weeks ago, engineer Shai Gia Wei visited his favourite shopping mall in Petaling Jaya as usual to do the weekly grocery shopping with his wife, and found the trip much easier as not many visitors were there.

KUALA LUMPUR (Nov 5): Malaysia reported 1,009 new Covid-19 cases today, marking the third day in a row the daily number of cases is back in four digits.