Danger We Re Reaching The Half A Million Mark In Covid 19 Cases

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MP SPEAKS | Malaysia has a cumulative total of 424,376 Covid-19 cases, overtaking Saudi Arabia, which has 422,316 cases, and is now ranked No 42 among nations in the world with the most number of Covid-19 cases.
The country recorded 3,744 new cases yesterday. At this rate of increase, we will reach the half-a-million mark for a cumulative total of Covid-19 cases by the end of this month.
This is a world ranking and a world record which Malaysia has nothing to be proud of.
Together with the announcement yesterday by the coordinating minister Khairy Jamaluddin that phase three of the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme (NIP) might be delayed beyond its intended kick-off in May, it is a double-whammy for Malaysia’s war against the Covid-19 pandemic.
Already the NIP is too slow and weak, as up to now, less than five percent of the population had been vaccinated (1.8 percent fully vaccinated while 2.9 percent given one dose of the vaccine).
Two months ago, I suggested that the National Immunisation Programme should be accelerated so that the national vaccine roll-out for the country to achieve “herd immunity” can be completed by Malaysia Day on Sept 16, 2021.
Now, Khairy’s target to achieve herd immunity against Covid-19 in July 2022 - 18 months from February 2021 when the first batch of the vaccine supply arrived - has been pushed further back.
Are we going to be a mini-India in Asean?
We are losing out in this battle between “vaccine and the virus”, with the coronavirus mutating into new variants and which has caused such devastation in India, where the healthcare system is at breaking point, 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.


People wait to cremate bodies from death caused by the coronavirus at a crematorium in New Delhi.

Are we going to be a mini-India in Asean? India broke another world record yesterday, registering 413,618 new Covid-19 cases, and in the last 15 days since breaking the 300,00-mark for new daily cases on April 21, has accumulated over five million Covid-19 cases.
Why is Malaysia ranked No 42, having a greater cumulative total of Covid-19 cases while other countries in East Asia, Asean and the Pacific have lower ranking and fewer cases, like Myanmar (ranked No 82) with 142,874 cases; South Korea (84) 124,945 cases; China (96) 90,721 cases; Thailand (98) 74,900 cases; Singapore (104) 61,268 cases; Australia (120) 29,862 cases; Cambodia (133) 16,971 cases; Hong Kong (145) 11,797 cases; Vietnam (176) 3,022 cases; New Zealand (179) 2,629 cases; Taiwan (192) 1,160 cases; Laos (19) 1,072 cases and Brunei (201) 228 cases?
This is a question the Muhyiddin Yassin government has avoided answering and with Parliament suspended since Jan 12, he can continue to avoid answering.
But this has generated an unprecedented gulf in public trust and credibility deficit for the government, which no amount of bluff and propaganda can remedy.
Malaysia is suffering at having the worst prime minister and the worst government in its 63-year history!
Can Malaysia be saved from the trajectory of hurtling towards a kakistocracy? - Mkini

LIM KIT SIANG is DAP MP for Iskandar Puteri.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of MMKtT.

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