#kerajaangagal86 – Malaysians reeling from the Covid-19 caseload and fatalities of the first three days of “total lockdown”

Malaysians are reeling from the Covid-19 caseload and fatalities for the first three days of the “total lockdown”:

It took Malaysia 10 months to reach a cumulative total of 22,957 Covid-19 cases and eleven months to reach cumulative total of 300 Covid-19 fatalities but such a new Covid-19 caseload and fatalities were reached in the last three days alone!

For the last three consecutive days, we have beaten both Indonesia and Philippines in daily increase of new Covid-19 cases as illustrated as follows:

This is the 23rd consecutive day that Malaysia has exceeded Indonesia in daily increase of new Covid-19 cases and the fourth consecutive day Malaysia had exceeded Philippines in daily increase of new Covid-19 cases.

So far, Indonesia and Philippines have a larger cumulative total of Covid-19 cases, with Indonesia ranked No. 18 among nations in the world with 1,831,773 Covid-19 cases and Philippines ranked No. 24 with 1,240,716 Covid-19 cases, but Malaysia is closing in.

Malaysia is ranked No.39, with a cumulative total of 587,165 Covid-19 cases and 2,993 Covid-19 deaths.

Indonesia and Philippines, with larger population than Malaysia, have also larger total Covid-19 fatalities.

Although Indonesia has a total of 50,908 Covid-19 deaths and has more daily Covid-19 fatalities than Malaysia, it has been able to keep daily Covid-19 fatalities below the 200 figure for the past two weeks.

In the case of Philippines, with total fatalities at 21,158 deaths, there were four days in last two weeks where its daily Covid-19 fatality was less than those in Malaysia.

If the projection by the Institute for Health Metric and Evaluation (IHME) of the University of Washington, is right that Covid-19 death toll in the country may reach 26,000 by September, estimating that the daily death rate could go as high as 200 cases towards the end of August, Malaysia will be beating both Indonesia and Philippines in both categories of daily increases of new Covid-19 cases and daily new Covid-19 fatalities in the coming months.

Malaysia will be doomed if Malaysia has more cumulative total of Covid-19 cases and fatalities than Indonesia or Philippines.

Malaysia, ranked No. 39 with the most cumulative total of Covid-19 cases, beat 31 of the higher-ranked countries with the most daily increase of new Covid-19 cases yesterday.

Accordjng to Our World In Data, Malaysia also leads many countries in daily confirmed cases per million yesterday, as we scored 237.45, higher than India (111.07), France (120.21), Canada (71.50), United States (49.06), Philippines (60.93), Italy (50.50), Thailand (56.42). Germany (52.79), UK (51.41), Japan (24.62), Taiwan (19.78), Indonesia (21.18), South Korea (10.72), Singapore (4.49), Vietnam (2.62), Myanmar (1.33), Australia (0.41), New Zealand (0.33), Hong Kong (0.23) and China (0.01).

From yesterday’s data, we can see a global daily increase of 386,337 cases, which is a 57.2% drop from the global peak of daily increase of 903,345 new Covid-19 cases on April 29, 2021; 131,371 cases in India, which is a 68.3% drop from its daily increase peak of 414,433 new Covid-19 cases on May 6, 2021; 17,791 cases in United States, which is 94.2% drop from its daily increase peak of 304,998 cases on January 8, 2021; 5,274 cases in UK which is a 92.3% drop from its daily increase peak of 67,843 on January 8, 2021; 1,968 new cases in Italy, a 95.2% drop from it daily peak increase of 41,195 on November 13, 2020; and 8,161 new cases in France, which is 90.2% drop from its daily increase peak of 83,324 cases on November 7, 2020.

Why is Malaysia buckling the international trend of a sharp dip in Covid-19 cases and instead surging for a new peak in daily increase of new Covid-19 cases?

The “total lockdown” has only undermined further public trust and confidence in the government’s handling of the Covid-19 pandemic.

There appeared to be a coup in the Perikatan Nasional Government when the Senior Defence Minister, Ismail Sabri Yaakob announced that during the “total lockdown”, all work permission letters from the International Trade and Industry (MITI) would not be valid, and permission letters would instead by issued by the respective ministries.

There appeared to be a quick counter-coup when 24 hours later, this announcement was countermanded and the jurisdiction went back to MITI.

The impression that there had been a coup and a quick counter-coup in the backdoor government was reinforced by the cryptic Facebook posting by Ismail that he had closed the door to his office at the Defence Ministry with the caption: "I have closed the front door but... 😥️" and social media accounts of confrontation between Ismail and MITI Minister, Azmin Ali over the issue of MITI approvals during the “total lockdown”.

Is Malaysia on auto-pilot in a kakistocracy?

Nobody appears to be in charge. Nobody is bothered about restoring public trust and confidence in the government mishandling of the Covid-19 pandemic or the need to launch a “whole-of-society” strategy and approach in the war against the Covid-19 pandemic.

In such circumstances, is there a future for Malaysia?