Can Malaysia rise up like Ireland to the top of the Bloomberg Covid Resilience Ranking (September 2021) when Ireland was in January ranked No. 39 among the 53 biggest economies

In the September 2021 Bloomberg Covid Resilience Ranking released yesterday, Ireland tops the world and the rest of the Top Ten nations are Spain, Netherlands, Finland, Denmark, UAE, France, Switzerland., Canada and Norway.

Ireland was in January 2021 ranked No. 39 with the world’s worst rate of infection, with its daily new Covid-19 caseload shooting up from three-digit numbers at end of December to four-digit numbers, reaching a daily peak of 8,227 cases on January 8, 2021.

January was Malaysia’s best ranking of No.16 in the monthly Bloomberg Covid Resilience Ranking, when an emergency was declared to fight the Covid-19 pandemic. In August, we fell to the very bottom of ranking of the 53 nations – a fall of 37 places.

In September 2021, Malaysia improved two rankings to No. 51 but the last five rankings were all ASEAN nations, namely Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam and Philippines.

Can the 12th Malaysia Plan cause Malaysia to rise up from Ranking No. 53 in August to No. 1 in the Bloomberg Covid Resilience Ranking like Ireland from No. 39 in January to No. 1 ranking in September?

This will not be an easy challenge for the new Prime Minister and new Heath Minster, for since the swearing-in of the Ismail Sabri’s Cabinet on August 30, Malaysia has not been able to break below the 10,000 daily new “Covid-19 cases.

September has been described as Malaysia’s deadliest month for the Covid-19 pandemic as it is likely to claim a toll of 10,000 deaths.

Already, Malaysia is becoming the worst-performing nation in ASEAN, definitely in terms of daily Covid-19 deaths if not in daily new Covid-19 cases as Philippines has more cases.

Yesterday, Malaysia reported more Covid-19 deaths than any other ASEAN nation – Malaysia has 240 deaths as compared to Indonesia 124, Philippines 91, Thailand 129, Vietnam 178 and Myanmar 48.

The record of yesterday’s new Covid-19 cases are: Malaysia 11,332, Indonesia 2057, Philipppines 13,848, Thailand 9489, Vietnam 452, Myanmar 1630 and Singapore 2236.

Malaysia has a long way to go if the 12th Malaysia Plan presented by the Prime Minister on Monday is to be the game-changer and propel the country from being ranked No. 52 to the very top of the Bloomberg Covid Resilience Ranking.

Dare the new Prime Minister have such an idea for Malaysia to excel next year?