Time for an “all-of-government” and “whole-of-society” strategy and approach as the record-high of 2,335 daily new Covid-19 infections yesterday is proof that the present strategy has failed to check the runaway surge in the third wave of the Covid-19 pandemic
The time has come for an “all-of-government” and “whole-of-society” strategy and approach to the war against the Covid-19 pandemic as the record-high of 2,335 daily new Covid-19 infections yesterday is proof that the present strategy has failed to check the runaway surge in the third wave of the Covid-19 pandemic
In fact, it shows that we are not very far from United States Institute for Heath Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) projections of 2,987 daily new cases on January 1, 2021 and 5,379 infections on March 21, 2021.
The purpose of a model is to serve as a warning of the worst that can be expected and the need for urgent remedial measures to be taken, and we should not be sitting targets.
The IHME model projected a continuous rise in Covid-19 cases in Malaysia until mid-March 2021, hitting over 5,000 infections daily from February 25, 2021.
It predicted that the 2,987 daily new Covid-19 cases on January 1 would increase to 4,176 Covid-19 infections on February 1, and 5,130 cases on March 1. The trend is projected to rise until March 21 with 5,379 infections that day, and then declining to 5,301 cases on April 1.
Going by the IHME model, Malaysia’s cumulative total of Covid-19 cases at the end of March will be the in region of 400,000 cases, which would place Malaysia in the bracket of the world’s top 30-40 countries with the most cumulative total of Covid-19 cases.
In the world ranking with the most cumulative total of Covid-19 cases, Malaysia was at one time some 50 positions behind China where the pandemic first started. But we have now overtaken China as we are ranked No. 75 with 103,900 cases while China is ranked No. 80 with 86,933 cases.
Today, we are likely to be ranked No. 74 when we overtake Paraguay.
On June 1 this year, Malaysia “Total cases per 1 million population” index was 243. Today, it is more than 13 times higher, i.e 3,190 as compared to China, whose “Total cases per 1 million population” index was 58 on June 1 and is now 60.
In fact, Malaysia has a higher “Total cases per 1 million population” index than most countries in Asia and ASEAN, apart from Singapore (9,965) and Philippines (4,253). In Asia, we have a higher index than Japan (1,691), South Korea (1,090) and Taiwan (33). In Asean, we are even higher than Indonesia (2,571). The index in other ASEAN countries are Thailand (86), Vietnam (15), Cambodia (22) and Laos (6).
Worldwide, the global cumulative total of Covid-19 cases have crossed the 80 million mark with more than 1.7 million Covid-19 fatalities.
The present global cumulative total is more than 683 times the 118,000 cases worldwide when the World Health Organisation (WHO) declared Covid-19 as a pandemic on March 11, 2020 – and the pandemic is surging to new grim records, whether in cumulative totals or daily increase in Covid-19 infections.
For instance, on March 11, the global daily increase of Covid-19 cases was 11,384 cases. It has steadily risen to a daily increase of 736,079 on Dec. 17, and at this rate of increase, it would reach a daily rate of increase of a million Covid-19 cases by the end of the first quarter of next year.
United States, which is the world’s worst country with most cumulative total of Covid-19 cases, will have more than 20 million cases by the end of the year, and probably 25 million cases on Inauguration Day on January 20 when Joe Biden would be sworn in as the 46th President of the United States.
It has been a grim Christmas for the world – with surges of Covid-19 cases, the discovery of a more contagious Covid variant and more travel restrictions worldwide.
South Korea Health Minister, Kwon Deok-cheol said that South Korea “stands at the crossroads of the third wave” as it posted its second highest daily number of coronavirus cases – 1,132 cases on Christmas Day and 1,241 cases on Christmas Eve.
But South Korea is better off than Malaysia, for it has 55,902 Covid cases and ranked No. 87 among countries with the most cumulative total of Covid-19 cases, and its highest daily increase is 1,241 cases as compared to Malaysia’s 2,335 daily increase of Covid-19 cases yesterday and our ranking of No. 75 in the world.
There should be an urgent reappraisal of Malaysia’s strategy to bring the third wave of the covid-19 pandemic under control.
Unfortunately, we have a Minister of Health who is not playing any useful role in the war against the Covid-19 pandemic.
A National Council on the Covid-19 Pandemic, under the chairmanship of the former Health Minister, Dzulkefly Ahmad should be formed which should spearhead an “all-of-government” and “whole-of-society” strategy and approach to bring the third wave of the Covid-19 pandemic under control.
Another “all-of-government” and “whole-of-society” Council to plan for a quick pandemic economic recovery should also be established.