Harapan Warns More Mcos Unless Testing And Vaccination Ramps Up

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Pakatan Harapan's Covid-19 vaccination committee has warned that Malaysia will be trapped in a "vicious cycle of movement control order" unless the government ramps up tests and vaccinations.
In a statement today, the committee urged the government to adopt mass RTK-Ag testing to fulfil the World Health Organisation (WHO)'s recommended strategy of find, test, trace, isolate, and support (FTTIS).
The committee noted that there was a 46 percent drop in Covid-19 tests conducted between May 12 and 15, where the rate for those testing positive on those days was above the five percent recommended by the WHO.
"Malaysia's positivity rate has been on the rise and is now breaching WHO recommendations," said the committee.
"This clearly shows that we are not testing enough, which also means that the daily numbers may not clearly reflect the real disease burden on the ground."

On vaccination, the committee noted that Malaysia's Covid-19 vaccination programme was progressing very slowly as only 3.6 percent of the population has been vaccinated, while neighbouring Singapore has vaccinated a third of its population.

"It is nowhere close to the 75,000 daily doses promised by the vaccine minister (Khairy Jamaluddin) on Jan 27 nor the 126,000 daily doses touted by the health minister on Feb 13," said the committee.
In the week starting May 6, Malaysia administered an average of 41,414 doses of Covid-19 vaccines daily, according to official figures.
According to Science, Technology, and Innovation Minister Khairy Jamaluddin, who is also in charge of the country's vaccination efforts against Covid-19, Malaysia will not be able to vaccinate at full capacity until June when more supplies arrive.
The past week saw 245 Covid-19 related deaths, more than the deaths reported for the entire month of April. - Mkini

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