#kerajaangagal37 – Malaysia failed in “proof in the pudding” test in its handling of the Covid-19 pandemic
With a cumulative total of 448,457 cases, and a daily increase of 3,978 cases, we are ranked No. 42 among nations in the world with the most number of Covid-19 cases.
Nepal, now ranked No. 44 with a cumulative total of 413,411 cases with a daily increase of 9,317 new Covid-19 cases, is set to overtake us, but we are set to overtake Morocco, Lebanon and UAE to be ranked No. 40 with the most Covid-19 cases in the world.
In East Asia, ASEAN and Pacific, we only lost to Indonesia, Philippines and Japan.
It is mortal shame for Malaysia when the Indonesian authorities cited Malaysia in the same breath as India as examples to avoid in the Covid-19 pandemic in their warning to Indonesian citizens to stay at home and to take precautions on Covid-19 in the forthcoming Hari Raya Aidilfitri holidays.
Is there any basis for Indonesia to give such a warning citing Malaysia?
I can think of only one instance – the rate of national vaccination campaign in each country.
In Indonesia, 3.2% of the population have been fully vaccinated, while 5.0% of the population had been given one dose achieving a daily rate of 260,112 doses of vaccine administered while in Malaysia, only 2.1% of the population had been fully vaccinated while 3.3 % of the population had been given one dose, achieving a daily rate of 42,968 doses administered.
Putrajaya had initially aimed to vaccinate up to 75,000 people daily under the national Covid-19 immunisation programme, but it had fallen far short of this target.
Why?
This is further argument why Khairy Jamaluddin, the Minister in charge of vaccines, should accelerate the national vaccination campaign
It is utterly ludicrous for the Senior Defence Minister, Ismail Sabri, when he tried to defend the indefensible about the flip-flop SOPs, claiming that the government needed to constantly adapt the SOPs to the latest developments of the Covid-19 situation in the country.
Ismail should have known of the saying “the proof is in the pudding”. When emergency was declared to combat the Covid-19 pandemic in Malaysia on January 12, 2021, the daily increase of new Covid-19 cases was 3,309 cases and four deaths. Some four months later on May 11, it recorded a daily increase of 3,973 new Covid-19 cases and 22 deaths.
On January 12, 2021, the cumulative total of Covid-19 cases for the past 12 months was 141, 533 cases. In the four months since the emergency, the cumulative total of Covid-19 more than tripled to 448,457 cases and the cumulative total of fatalities more than tripled from 559 deaths to 1,722 deaths.
It is clear that the Malaysian government has failed in “the proof is in the pudding” test.
What has the “need to constantly adapt the SOPs to the latest developments of the Covid-19 situation in the country” to do with the most unscientific decision to ban outdoor exercises and non-contact sports under MCO 3.0.
Even the infectious diseases expert Dr Adeeba Kamarulzaman, who was recently inducted into the World Health Organisation’s Science Council, reacted instantly and pointed out that the risk of contracting Covid-19 outdoors was about 18 times lower than indoors?
Or the most flawed decision to use the Hotspots Identification for Dynamic Engagement (Hide) system to close down shopping malls and supermarkets.
The HIDE system predicts potential new hotspots for the next seven days based on data collected by the MySejahtera mobile application but its ”blindspots” caused it to highlight the major shopping malls and supermarkets but not factories and construction sites – when historical data showed that shopping malls contributed to less than five percent of the Covid-19 clusters, as opposed to factories (48 percent) and construction (11.6 percent).
Ismail Sabri should be reminded that nothing could be more pathetic and reprehensible than to try to defend the indefensible when a lousy job had been done with unbelievable incompetence and ignorance.
Malaysians have been the victims of two catastrophes – one natural, the Covid-19 pandemic; and the other man-made, the mishandling of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The complacency displayed by the Finance Minister, Tengku Zafrul Aziz that the implementation of the third movement control order is not expected to have a significant impact on the country’s economic growth as almost all economic sectors are allowed to remain operational is most shocking.
It would be better for Zafrul to provide immediate assistance to families who have been living on the edge for over a year as without help under the MCO 3.0, the poor would fail to cope under the compounded effects of reduced income, school closures and psychological pressures.
Is Zafrul aware of a survey by DM Analytics Malaysia for Unicef and UNFPA that found about four in 10 urban poor families had dipped into their savings to survive, despite having already received government assistance like the Bantuan Prihatin Nasional (BPN).
When is the government giving aid of these urban poor under MCO 3.0?