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The single biggest issue of the Covid-19 pandemic is the high fatality rate with 360 new Covid-19 deaths yesterday, but it was completely omitted by the Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin in his live telecast yesterday.

When emergency was proclaimed on January 11, 2021 to combat the Covid-19 pandemic, there were 551 deaths from the first 12 months of the Covid-19 pandemic.

In the seven months since the proclamation of emergency, Covid-19 deaths have increased 19.5 times to the present cumulative total of 10,749 deaths.

By the present rate of Covid-19 deaths, we will break the 11,000-mark for Covid-19 deaths either today or tomorrow and heading towards more than 15,000 Covid-19 deaths by the 64th National Day on August 31 and near 20,000 Covid-19 deaths by the 58th Malaysia Day on Sept. 16, 2021 – making these two national holidays the most tragic in the nation’s history.

On 3rd July, I criticised Muhyiddin for neglecting the high Covid-19 fatality rate in Malaysia and asked the Prime Minister to direct his Covid-19 team to focus on it as it was completely unacceptable for 2,374 people to die of Covid-19 in one month of June 2021.

But one Minister who had claimed that the Covid-19 pandemic was an indicator that the government had succeeded in managing the pandemic as the people were no longer afraid of Covid-19 scoffed at my statement.

For the information of this Minister, I have as yet to find a person in the country who is not afraid of Covid-19.

Since then, the death toll from Covid-19 had worsened.

In July, there were 3,854 Covid-19 deaths and in the first eight days of August, Covid-19 deaths totalled 1,729 and Malaysia is likely to have more than 5,000 deaths in August alone.

We have performed so badly in the war against Covid-19 pandemic that we have jumped from the world’s top dozen countries in daily Covid-19 deaths to the world’s top seventh nation with 360 Covid-19 deaths yesterday.

No country with such a high Covid-19 death rate can claim to be a caring (prihatin) government as we are enacting hundreds of tragedies every day.

What is of greatest concern is that there is still no light at the end of the tunnel, as between July 7 and Aug 7, the number of patients in the ICU grew from 948 to 1,097 while the number of active cases skyrocketed from 74,344 to 224,120 in the same period, putting unprecedented pressure on the healthcare system which are on breaking point in the Klang Valley.

But the greatest indictment of the mishandling of the Covid-19 pandemic is that after 20 months of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Muhyiddin government has yet to spearhead a “whole-of-society” strategy and approach in war against the Covid-19 pandemic – and the strongest evidence is the continued shutdown of Parliament and the frustration of Members of Parliament from playing their full role in the war against Covid-19 pandemic.

(Media Statement by DAP MP for Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang in Kuala Lumpur on Monday, 9th August 2021)

Isu terbesar wabak Covid-19 adalah kadar kematian yang tinggi dengan 360 kematian baru akibat Covid-19 dicatatkan semalam tetapi perkara itu langsung tidak disentuh oleh Muhyiddin dalam siaran langsungnya

Ketika darurat diumumkan pada 11 Januari 2021 untuk memerangi wabak Covid-19, 551 kes kematian dicatatkan dalam tempoh 12 bulan pertama penularan wabak itu di negara ini.

Dalam tempoh tujuh bulan sejak pengisytiharan darurat, kes kematian akibat Covid-19 telah meningkat 19.5 kali ganda menjadikan kes kematian kesuluruhan sebanyak 10,749.

Berdasarkan kadar kematian semasa akibat Covid-19, kita bakal memecahkan angka 11,000 kematian akibat Covid-19 sama ada hari ini atau esok dan dijangka mencatatkan lebih 15,000 kematian akibat wabak ini menjelang Hari Kebangsaan ke-64 pada 31 Ogos dan hampir 20,000 kematian menjelang Hari Malaysia ke-58 pada 16 September 2021 — menjadikan dua cuti kebangsaan ini sebagai hari paling tragis dalam sejarah negara.

Pada 3 Julai, saya mengkritik Muhyiddin kerana mengabaikan kadar kematian akibat Covid-19 yang tinggi di Malaysia dan meminta Perdana Menteri untuk mengarahkan pasukan Covid-19 untuk memberi tumpuan terhadap perkara itu kerana angka korban akibat Covid-19 yang begitu tinggi yang dicatatkan sepanjang bulan Jun iaitu sebanyak 2,374 orang adalah sesuatu yang tidak boleh diterima.

Pun begitu, terdapat seorang Menteri yang mendakwa bahawa Covid-19 adalah petunjuk bahawa kerajaan telah berjaya menguruskan wabak tersebut kerana rakyat kini tidak lagi takut terhadap Covid-19, malah beliau turut memperlekehkan kenyataan saya.

Untuk makluman Menteri tersebut, saya tidak pernah jumpa mana-mana individu pun di negara ini yang tidak takut dengan virus Covid-19.

Sejak daripada waktu itu, angka kematian akibat Covid-19 terus bertambah buruk.

Pada bulan Julai, terdapat 3,854 kes kematian akibat Covid-19 direkodkan dan dalam lapan hari pertama bulan Ogos, sebanyak 1,729 kes kematian dicatatkan dan Malaysia kemungkinan akan merekodkan lebih 5,000 kes kematian pada bulan Ogos sahaja.

Kita telah menunjukkan prestasi yang sangat buruk dalam perang melawan wabak Covid-19 sehinggakan kedudukan kita melonjak dari belasan negara teratas di dunia dalam jumlah kes kematian harian kepada negara ketujuh teratas di dunia dengan 360 kes kematian akibat wabak itu semalam.

Tiada negara yang mempunyai kadar kematian Covid-19 yang begitu tinggi yang boleh mendabik dada dengan mengatakan bahawa mereka adalah kerajaan yang prihatin ketika beratus-ratus orang telah terkorban setiap hari akibat wabak berkenaan.

Apa yang paling membimbangkan adalah bahawa seoalah-olah tiada harapan, antara 7 Julai dan 7 Ogos, jumlah pesakit di ICU meningkat dari 948 kepada 1,097 sementara jumlah kes aktif melonjak dari 74,344 kepada 224,120 dalam tempoh yang sama, memberikan tekanan yang tidak pernah terjadi sebelumnya terhadap sistem penjagaan kesihatan di Lembah Klang yang kini berada di ambang kelumpuhan.

Tetapi kesalah terbesar dalam pengendalian wabak Covid-19 adalah keengganan kerajaan Muhyiddin untuk merintis strategi dan pendekatan “keseluruhan masyarakat” dalam perang melawan Covid-19, meskipun wabak itu telah mengganas selama 20 bulan di negara ini – dan ini dapat dilihat menerusi tindakan berterusan kerajaan menutup Parlimen dan kekecewaan yang dizahirkan Ahli Parlimen ekoran tidak dapat memainkan peranan mereka sepenuhnya dalam perang melawan wabak ini.

(Kenyataan Media oleh Ahli Parlimen DAP Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang di Kuala Lumpur pada hari Isnin, 9 Ogos 2021)