KUALA LUMPUR, April 12 – Kelantan, Terengganu, Pahang, Putrajaya, and Kedah documented the highest declines in MySejahtera check-ins at between 49 per cent and 38 per cent since March 25.
Between March 25 and April 9, the peninsular east coast states of Kelantan and Terengganu observed 48.7 per cent plummets in daily MySejahtera check-ins, based on rolling seven-day averages.
Pahang, the administrative centre of Putrajaya, and Kedah up north recorded declines of 39 per cent, 38.5 per cent, and 37.8 per cent respectively.
MySejahtera averaged about 16.9 million check-ins nationally in Malaysia on April 9, the lowest in over nine months since July 1 last year with about 17 million check-ins.
Average daily check-ins to registered premises on the Covid-19 app fell 30.3 per cent nationally by 7.4 million from an average 24.3 million check-ins on March 25, to an average 16.9 million check-ins on April 9.
Every state and federal territory showed significant MySejahtera check-in decreases from March 25, as well as a concurrent brief increase on April 2, before continuing plummeting across the board the past week.
Eleven states and federal territories recorded declines exceeding the national 30.3 per cent decline in MySejahtera check-ins from March 25 to April 9.
The urban centres of Selangor, Kuala Lumpur, Johor, and Penang, as well as rural Sarawak, registered smaller declines than the national average.
CovidNow, which manages the Ministry of Health’s (MOH) Covid-19 dashboard, told CodeBlue that bigger drops in daily MySejahtera check-ins in the east coast, compared to the Klang Valley, could be most likely attributed to higher enforcement in the commercial region and lower baseline check-in rates in rural areas.
In less urban states with poorer internet penetration and use, physical logbooks to register details of visitors at public premises could still be retained, making it easier for people to switch from MySejahtera to handwritten records.
“So in that sense, if for whatever reason I wanted to stop using MySejahtera, it would be easier to do so in a place where its takeup wasn’t as high to begin with,” CovidNow explained.
CovidNow also pointed out that the capital city, Selangor, Penang, and Johor have the highest number of tourist visits – after international borders were reopened on April 1 – with tourists mandated to use MySejahtera.
“Enforcement and baseline takeup are likely the biggest factors, but this is conjecture on our part – there isn’t any public data to substantiate that point. Anecdotally, very likely explanation,” said CovidNow.
When asked to explain why MySejahtera check-in declines from March 25, including a temporary increase on April 2, were observed across all 16 states and federal territories in the same period, the CovidNow team said it was not surprised by the simultaneous downward trends occurring nationwide.
“The decline was likely caused by an event that would have impacted trust/ confidence across the country,” CovidNow told CodeBlue.
“The upward mini-spike was due to inbound travel and a general increase in travel to all states following border reopening. So we had every expectation that we would observe similar trends across the nation.”
CodeBlue broke the MySejahtera controversy on March 26 with an article on the Public Accounts Committee’s (PAC) report that showed the national Covid-19 app was developed without a contract between the government and the app developer, Entomo Malaysia Sdn Bhd (formerly KPISoft Malaysia Sdn Bhd). MySJ Sdn Bhd, another private company, has since been directly appointed for a MySejahtera public contract that is currently under negotiation with MOH.
CodeBlue also broke stories on two ongoing lawsuits involving MySJ shareholders that revealed an RM338.6 million five-year licence agreement between Entomo and MySJ for MySejahtera’s intellectual property and software licence, as well as a Singaporean company fully owning the app developer, Entomo Malaysia. The MySejahtera issue, including comments from Opposition lawmakers and other commentators, was also widely covered in mainstream media.
The top five percentage declines in MySejahtera check-ins were observed in Kelantan (48.7 per cent), Terengganu (48.7 per cent), Pahang (39 per cent), Putrajaya (38.5 per cent), and Kedah (37.8 per cent).
Melaka, Perak, Perlis, Negeri Sembilan, Labuan, and Sabah recorded drops in daily MySejahtera check-ins at between 30.7 per cent and 37.1 per cent in the same period, exceeding the national 30.3 per cent average decline.
On the other hand, Penang, Johor, Sarawak, Kuala Lumpur and Selangor recorded drops in daily MySejahtera check-ins at between 25.4 per cent and 28.7 percent, below the national decline. Tourist destination Penang displayed the smallest decline at 25.4 percent.
In terms of absolute numbers, Selangor saw the biggest drop in average daily MySejahtera check-ins at about 1.7 million, from 5.9 million check-ins on March 25 to 4.2 million check-ins on April 9, translating to a 28.7 per cent decrease in the country’s most populous state.
The capital city of Kuala Lumpur recorded the second biggest decline in average daily check-ins on the ubiquitous app in terms of absolute numbers, from 4.1 million to 2.9 million check-ins in the same period, or a drop of about 1.2 million (28.1 per cent) check-ins a day.
By absolute numbers, Labuan – a small island with a 100,000 population – recorded the smallest drop in average daily MySejahtera check-ins at 24,768, from 70,184 check-ins on March 25 to 45,416 check-ins on April 9, leading to a 35.3 per cent decline.
CodeBlue previously reported that mobility trends in Malaysia, based on Google data, have been on an upward trajectory since late to end March, indicating that the drop in MySejahtera check-ins is due to people choosing not to record their visits on the app.
