#kerajaangagal161 – Under the present surge of Covid-19 infections, Malaysia will overtake Japan ten days before the opening of Tokyo Olympics on 23rd July on total Covid-19 cases and set to exceed one million Covid-19 cases and over 9,000 Covid-19 deaths by mid-August

Under the present surge of Covid-19 infections, Malaysia will overtake Japan ten days before the opening of Tokyo Olympics on 23rd July on total Covid-19 cases and set to exceed one million Covid-19 cases and over 9,000 Covid-19 deaths by mid-August.

Yesterday’s Covid-19 statistics reporting a daily increase of 7,654 new Covid-19 cases and 103 new Covid-19 deaths have further alarmed Malaysians, for with a cumulative total of 792,693 Covid-19 cases and 5,677 Covid-19 deaths, Malaysia will join the 34 other nations with over 800,000 Covid-19 cases by tomorrow (or even today, if we exceed 7,307 new cases).

These are sombre facts which should factor into Cabinet consideration today to convene a proper Parliamentary meeting commensurate with the enormity of the Covid-18 pandemic crisis facing Malaysia.

Three weeks ago on June 17, I gave my personal views on the need to mobilise a Covid-19 national coalition, encompassing the Executive, Parliament and covering all levels of Malaysian society, to turn the tides of defeat to win the war against the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Covid-19 situation has gone from bad to worse in the last three weeks, with cumulative total of 678,764 Covid-19 cases and 4,202 Covid-19 deaths on June 17 worsening to 792,693 Covid-19 cases and 5,677 Covid-19 deaths yesterday.

We must get out of the position of being among the world’s worst performing nations in the Covid-19 pandemic as other worst performing nations have turned the corner and doing well in the war against Covid-19 pandemic, with the United States for instance drastically reducing its daily new Covid-19 cases and new Covid-19 deaths by some 98% and 99% from their peaks in January.

For more than a year, I have been calling for an “all-of-government” and “whole-of-society” strategy and approach in the invisible but lethal war against the Covid-19 pandemic but this has yet to become a reality.

The Cabinet and the Parliament to be convened before August 1 must set as their tasks the launch of a national mobilisation of this Malaysian coalition at all levels of society to win the invisible war against Covid-19 pandemic, especially as this is going to be a long-haul war with experts believing that the Covid-19 pandemic will not be over until 2024.

Lim Kit Siang MP for Iskandar Puteri