Let Deepavali this year mark a new beginning for mankind after the ravages and destruction of the 22-month Covid-19 pandemic

More than five million lives in the world have been lost in the Covid-19 pandemic but health experts and the World Health Organisation (WHO) estimate that the true toll could be far higher – two to three times higher than the official records.

By the first week of November, the global cumulative total of Covid-19 cases would have reached 250 million cases.

The Covid-19 pandemic in the past 22 months is a dark chapter in the history of mankind but there are positive signs. It has taken a longer time i.e. 110 days, to reach the five million dead from the four-million mark compared to just under 90 days to rise from three million to four million dead.

But the WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus had recently warned that the pandemic was “far from over”, where countries with low vaccination rates are seeing soaring infections and deaths.

Let Deepavali this year mark a new beginning for mankind after the ravages and destruction to the lives and livelihoods of the 22-month Covid-19 pandemic.

In Malaysia, we are nearing cumulative totals of three million Covid-19 cases and 30,000 Covid-19 deaths.

We must continue to keep to the downward trajectory of the Covid-19 curve and Covid-19 deaths until we reach a double-digit daily new Covid-19 cases and single-digit daily Covid-19 deaths.

We must follow the examples of Indonesia, India and China which have undergone sharp declines in Covid-19 cases and Covid-19 deaths – with Indonesia experiencing 19 consecutive days in triple-digit figures for daily new cases and 33 consecutive days in double-digit numbers for Covid-19 deaths.

On Nov 1, India even recorded four-digit daily new cases while Malaysia is struggling to go below 4,626 daily new cases for the past month.

There is no reason why Malaysia cannot produce better results in the war against the Covid-19 pandemic when compared to Indonesia, India and China.