Deputy Prime Minister, Ismail Sabri Yaakob dropped a bombshell yesterday when he said the entire country is expected to move into Phase 2 of the National Recovery Plan in early August based on the performance of the National Covid-19 Immunisation Program (NIP) where individuals who completed two doses of vaccine exceeded the 10 percent threshold set for the country.
Under the National Recovery Plan announced by the Prime Minister on June 15, the transition from Phase 1 to Phase 2 is after the threshold values for the following three main indicators are met, viz:
1. Number of daily Covid-19 cases drop to below 4,000 2. Bed usage in intensive care units (ICU) at moderate level 3. 10 percent of the population received two doses of vaccine.
A virologist in Universiti Sains Malaysia has warned that the daily Covid-19 infections could rise to nearly 20,000 a day within the next two weeks, given the number of cases caused by more infectious Delta variant.
Health director-general Noor Hisham Abdullah also expects Covid-19 cases to continue increasing over the next fortnight before stabilising, because of variants of concern, such as the Delta strain, which had been wreaking havoc in the Klang Valley.
As for bed usage in intensive care units (ICU), the stories and pictures of the Klang Valley hospitals struggling to cope with rising number of Covid-19 patients, and the spectre of the oxygen crisis in India coming to Malaysia, are the best answer.
How can the whole country under the National Recovery Plan enter Phase 2 in August when the daily Covd-19 caseload will be more than treble or quadruple the first threshold of less than 4,000 cases daily and the Klang Valley hospitals are on breaking-point in ICU usage?
The Muhyiddin Cabinet should not paint a false and dishonest picture of the Covid-19 pandemic or claim that the government strategy, including the six-month emergency, was not a dismal failure in the war against Covid-19 pandemic.
Honesty is the best policy and the government should own up to its mistakes in pursuing a failed strategy in the war against Covid-19 pandemic, for the people can forgive mistakes but not dishonesty.
I call on the Prime Minister, Muhyddin Yassin, to call off the police harassment of healthcare workers in particular those who have supported the campaign for the plight of contract doctors in government service.
The Malaysian Medical Association (MMA) President, Dr. Subramaniam Muniandy have received complaints from doctors involved in the Code Black and Black Monday campaigns that they are being investigated by the police, and are afraid and traumatised by the investigations.
The government should not turn a public health issue into a national security issue, and this applies to the 15-minute video by Projek Bangsa Malaysia featuring only audio of people said to be front-line workers, projecting an image of a “sinking” public healthcare system in the Klang Valley.
In the age of social media, the government must have a new and more effective communications strategy and cannot pretend that such a video does not exist.
There must be a truthful response from the government to the video.
(Media Statement (2) by DAP MP for Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang in Kuala Lumpur on Thursday, 15th July , 2021)