Malaysia's economy will eventually recover from the global Covid-19 pandemic once Malaysia has lifted the Movement Control Order (MCO), said former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

Dr Mahathir said all parties and the people at large must rise up and work harder to ensure the economy can be revived as soon as possible.

"Terrible, this is terrible. When people don't go out to work, they are not productive, they are not delivering anything, not helping business and therefore not creating wealth.

"If we do recover, it will take a lot of time before we can rebuild the economy again," he said.

Analysts said many business activities in many of the world's top economies have come to a halt due to the unprecedented measures taken by many countries to deal with the spread of the Covid-19 virus, which has infected close to 860,000 worldwide.

Dr Mahathir said this during a Facebook live Q&A session.

He also gave the example of the tourism industry which results in billions in losses due to many measures taken by many countries.

"Because of this pandemic, tourists cannot travel anywhere. The whole tourism industry will suffer. Hotels, restaurants, suppliers and everybody will suffer." He added.

Dr Mahathir advised Malaysians to adhere to the MCO and stay at home so the virus will not infect even more and take a longer time to recover.

"We all have the same goal, which is to flatten the curve and break the chain. If we succeed, then we can return to our daily activities."

The MCO, which was enforced on March 18, is expected to end on April 14.

News Source: BERNAMA