#kerajaangagal18 – Is there a fourth Covid wave in Malaysia, which returned to the dangerous level of daily increase of 3,418 new Covid cases while the highly-infectious Indian double-mutant coronavirus is detected in the country?

The national sigh of relief because the daily increase of new Covid-19 cases had fallen below the 3,000-mark after three straight days above 3,000 and 13 straight days above 2,000 lasted briefly for a day, when it sprung back to 3,418 cases.

Is Malaysia facing the fourth Covid wave before the third Covid wave – which is already the longest in the world lasting nine months as it started last September – could be fully brought under control by first reducing the daily increase of new Covid-19 cases down to triple-digit and then to double-digit figures?

What is most disturbing is that the highly-infectious Indian “double mutant” coronavirus is believed to be the chief cause of the vicious second wave of Covid in India, with grim scenes of people dying in hospital corridors, on roads and in their homes and where car parks have been turned into cremation grounds while desperate families scramble to find oxygen, medicines and hospital beds.

The apocalyptic scene of horror in India is underlined by the fact that since April 21, India had set new world record every day for the last two weeks for daily increase of new Covid-19 cases, which was previously held by the United States when it recorded a daily increase of 307,515 new cases on January 8, 2021. On April 20, India registered the unbelievable daily increase of 402,110 cases and 3,522 deaths – which are themselves believed to be gross under-estimates of the true situation.

There cannot be greater contrast in the Covid-19 pandemic between India and China – where thousands are dying in India every day because of Covid-19 with the Covid-19 toll exceeding 20,000 in the past week while in Wuhan, China where the Covid-19 pandemic first started more than a year ago, thousands of people attended the first day of the Wuhan Strawberry Music Festival on Saturday and danced, bounced and screamed with delight as some of their favourite acts took the stage.

Malaysia’s tragedy is that we have no learnt the world-wide lessons of the Covid-19 pandemic, that despite proposals a year ago for an “all-of-government” and “whole-of-society” strategy and approach in the war against the Covid-19 pandemic, the backdoor, illegitimate and kakistocratic government had blundered from one disaster to another, culminating in the biggest blunder of all – an emergency and suspension of Parliament.

Will the Cabinet on Wednesday decide that the Prime Minister, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin should advise the Yang di Pertuan Agong to end the emergency and to immediately convene Parliament to spearhead an “all-of-government” and “whole-of-society” national mobilisation in the war against the Covid-19 pandemic in Malaysia?

Lim Kit Siang MP for Iskandar Puteri