When will Malaysia return to the pre-Emergency period when there were 2,232 daily new Covid-19 cases and four daily Covid-19 deaths on January 11, 2021 when Emergency was declared to combat the Covid-19 pandemic

When will Malaysia return to the pre-Emergency period when there were 2,232 daily new Covid-19 cases and four daily Covid-19 deaths on January 11, 2021 when Emergency was declared to combat the Covid-19 pandemic.

Even when we can return to the pre-Emergency period of having less than 2,232 daily new Covid-19 cases and four daily Covid-19 deaths, we have to surmount another challenge – when Malaysia can end the third Covid wave in Malaysia going back to the Sabah state election in September last year, making Malaysia carry the infamy of having the longest Covid wave in the world for over 15 months and still counting.

Both questions present the magnitude of the failure of Malaysia to handle the two-year Covid-19 pandemic efficiently and effectively, as Malaysia has been exposed as one of the top worst nations in the world in the handling of the Covid-19 pandemic despite a high rate of national vaccination.

Now, Malaysia is suffering further opprobrium for a disastrous management of the floods in Selangor.

On Covid-19, Health director-general Noor Hisham has said the Health Ministry does not rule out the possibility of a rise in Covid-19 cases if the SOP could not be fully implemented during the flood situation.

Yesterday’s report of daily 3,140 new Covid-19 cases was a cause of alarm, for it destroyed the hopes of any rapid reduction in daily new Covid-19 cases, - as on the previous day, there were 2,580 daily new Covid-19 cases, lowest since May 3, 2021.

But Malaysia was in the 2000+ region for one day and we are back on the 3,000+ region, and we have been struggling in the 3,000+ region for the last ten days!

Are we to struggle in the 3,000+ region for the last 10 days of the year for daily new Covid-19 cases and must we wait until next year to return to pre-Emergency days?

Will the longest Covid in the world (the third Covid wave in Malaysia starting September last year) continue indefinitely into the new year?

Our daily Covid-19 deaths compare most unfavourably with other ASEAN nations - yesterday we recorded 57 Covid-19 deaths, as compared to 54 for India, 32 for Thailand, 11 for Indonesia, 10 for Philippines and two for Singapore.

Serious mismanagement seems to be the order of the day for the Ismail Sabri Federal Government.

In such circumstances, how is Malaysia to acquit itself creditably now that it is hit with twin disasters – the Covid-19 pandemic and the floods tragedy?