Malls across places like Kuala Lumpur, Selangor, and Negeri Sembilan became ghost towns this week after several COVID-19 positive individuals were reported being there.
Photos posted to social media today showed empty rows of shops in Nu Sentral, KLCC, and Sunway Pyramid, among others. They reopened this week after closing for disinfection amid reports that new COVID-19 cases were traced to those malls.
Malaysia is seeing a new wave of COVID-19 infections with a surge of 1,795 cases in the past month. The death toll stands at 134.
Nu Sentral in Central Kuala Lumpur closed for a day on Sept. 27 after a mall employee tested positive for the virus, forcing the mall management team to undergo two-week quarantine and COVID-19 tests.
The mall reopened this week with barely any shoppers despite being strategically located next to a transport hub that connects commuters to the airport.
Just a stone’s throw from Nu Sentral is KLCC, where someone who visited the Babel Fit gym was confirmed with the infection on Sunday.
The mall was not hit as badly as its neighbor, with photos showing some shoppers trickling in and out.
In Petaling Jaya, Selangor, the Sunway Pyramid mall suffers the same fate as Nu Sentral, days after an employee from the Nike store tested positive for COVID-19. The store remained closed since Saturday, while the rest of the mall was disinfected and open for business.
Outside Kuala Lumpur and Selangor, the Aeon Nilai mall in Negeri Sembilan still looks empty seven days after it reopened.
The mall was closed for disinfection last Wednesday after a person who had visited Sabah went there while infected with COVID-19. The patient had travelled to Semporna and Tawau, which today entered a two-week lockdown due to a surge in infections.
The mall seems desperate for shoppers. On Instagram, attempts to encourage patrons to stop by filled its latest posts.
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