#kerajaangagal6 – US warns citizens against travel to fourth-tier Malaysia over “very high” Covid-19 risk while Vietnam, Thailand, China and Taiwan in first tier of “very low” risk as well as Singapore, Hong Kong, South Korea, Japan and Cambodia in second tier of “moderate” risk
My #kerajaangagal6 statement is on the United States warning against travel to Malaysia because in fourth tier of countries with “very high” Covid risk, while Vietnam, Thailand, China and Taiwan are in the first tier of “very low’ risk as well as Singapore, Hong Kong, South Korea, Japan and Cambodia in the second tier of “moderate” risk.
Malaysia is in the United States’ fourth tier of “very high” ‘Covid risk – in the company of Indonesia and Philippines, not to mention United States and the European nations which took seven places of the 10 top nations in the world with most cumulative total of Covid-19 cases.
It is highly ironical that the United States, through the Centres of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), is warning its citizens against travel to Malaysia.
Malaysia, with 384,688 cases, should be warning Malaysians from visiting the United States which topped the world as the country with the most cumulative total of Covid-19 cases with 32.6 million cases and 584,004 fatalities.
Furthermore, the daily increase of new Covid-19 cases in the United States is still on the very high side of 51,737 cases (though not in the league of India which increased by 332,503 cases yesterday),as compared to 2,874 cases in Malaysia yesterday, though at one time, the daily increase of new Covid-19 cases in the United States was as high as 307,583 cases on January 8 this year!.
But Malaysia has nothing to be proud to be ranked No. 44 among countries in the world with the most cumulative total of Covid-19 cases, when Myanmar is ranked No. 82, South Korea No. 86, China No. 95, Singapore No. 102, Thailand No. 105, Hong Kong No. 144, Cambodia 155, Vietnam No. 177 and Taiwan No. 192.
Yesterday’s 2,874 new Covid-19 cases was the eighth consecutive day Malaysia breached the 2,000-mark, narrowing the gap for Malaysia to overtake Bulgaria to be ranked No. 43rd in the world.
It is clear that the declaration of emergency and suspension of Parliament purportedly to combat the Covid-19 pandemic is an abysmal failure.
In fact, a strong case can be made that it is the emergency situation and the suspension of Parliament which were the causes of the present plight where Malaysia may be hit by a fourth Covid wave before we can bring the third Covid wave – probably the longest Covid Wave in the world – under control.
Furthermore, a strong case can also be made that if the Pakatan Harapan government had not been toppled by the Sheraton Move conspiracy after 22 months in Putrajaya, ushering in a backdoor, incompetent, undemocratic and illegitimate government, Malaysia might be spared both the second and third waves of Covid-19 pandemic.
In the circumstances, it is bizarre that the Home Minister, Hamzah Zainuddin, could say yesterday that the declaration of emergency had allowed the government to better handle the Covid-19 situation in the country, and that without an emergency, “we would not be able to reduce the Covid-19 cases as fast as possible”.
It beggars the imagination that there is a senior Cabinet Minister who could describe a six-day consecutive streak breaking the 2,000-mark for daily increase of new Covid-19 cases as “reducing the Covid-19 cases as fast as possible”!
We are about half-way mark of the emergency declared on January 12, 2021, and with the abysmal failure so far to contain the Covid-19 pandemic, there will be voices calling for the extension of the emergency in August on the ground of the worsening Covid-19 pandemic.
Will the Cabinet finally focus on the need to forge an “all-of-government” and “whole-of-society” strategy and approach to the Covid-19 pandemic to enable Malaysia to learn the new technique of living with the coronavirus, as the Covid-19 is going to be with us for many years, by ending the emergency and reconvening Parliament?
Or will the emergency be extended in August till next year and longer on the ground of worsening Covid-19 situation, so that the Perikatan Nasional (PN) government can continue its backdoor and kakistocratic existence?