#kerajaangagal148 – Malaysia will exceed 10,000 Covid-19 deaths soon if the present rate of Covid-19 fatalities – where 2,302 people died of Covid-19 in the 29 days of June – is not stopped

The Cabinet must find a formula to end the spiral of Covid-19 deaths and suicides or we are going to see fatalities from Covid-19 pandemic exceed 10,000 deaths and a record-year for suicides.

Malaysia will exceed 10,000 Covid-19 deaths soon if the present rate of Covid-19 fatalities – where 2,302 people died of Covid-19 in the 29 days of June – is not stopped.

When emergency was proclaimed on January 11, 2021, there were 555 Covid-19 deaths. As of yesterday (29th June 2021), 4,553 people have died during the emergency, bringing the total fatalities from Covid-19 to 5,108 – shooting Malaysia to be among the top 60 countries in the world with the most number of Covid-19 deaths.

We are not in the league of the top five countries in the world with the most number of cumulative total of Covid-19 deaths, led by United States, with 34.5 million cases and nearly 620,000 deaths; Brazil with 18.5 million cases and over 516,000 deaths; India with over 30 million cases and nearly 400,000 deaths; Mexico with 2.5 million cases and over 230,000 deaths and Peru with two million cases and over 192,000 deaths.

But going by Our World in Data website, as on June 28, 2021, apart from Russia and the South American nations, we have beaten the other top 10 countries in the world with the most cumulative total of Covid-19 cases with regard to “deaths per million of population” as illustrated from the following figures:

  1. United States of America - 0.82
  2. India - 0.86
  3. Brazil - 7.73
  4. France - 0.49
  5. Russia - 3.94
  6. Turkey - 0.67
  7. United Kingdom - 0.26
  8. Argentina - 11.54
  9. Italy 0.49
  10. Colombia - 13.32
  11. Malaysia 2.31

How low has Malaysia sunk in achievements and excellence in various fields of human endeavour as compared to the better nations in the world?

Recently, an eminent Brazilian epidemiologist, Pedro Hallal, a professor at the Federal University of Pelotas, said Brazil could have saved 400,000 lives if the country had implemented stricter social distancing measures and launched a vaccination programme earlier.

Hallal, who last week testified before a Brazilian senate inquiry into the government’s handling of the crisis, estimated that 95,000 to 145,000 deaths occurred due to the country’s inaction in acquiring vaccines.

Could Malaysia have saved 4,000 lives if the Muhyiddin government had better handled the Covid-19 pandemic?

What about the higher rate of suicides during the Covid-19 pandemic?

Is there a special programme by the Ministry of Community Development to deal with the rise of depression and suicides, especially with the shocking revelation of an average of four suicide cases every day for the first three months of the year?

The toll of 5,108 deaths from Covid-19 should be on the conscience of every Cabinet Minister, for the majority of those who died could have been spared if there had not been a mishandling of the war against the Covid-19 pandemic.

This reason should be enough for the Ministers to collectively decide on an end of the emergency and the convening of Parliament to form a “Win the war against Covid-19 pandemic” coalition at all levels of the Malaysian society.

Lim Kit Siang MP for Iskandar Puteri