The light at the end of the tunnel of the over-a-year Covid-19 pandemic is getting brighter with 8,075 daily new Covid-19 cases yesterday with 76 (including 15 Brought-in-Dead) Covid-19 deaths, although Indonesia reduced its daily new Covid-19 cases to double-digit figures yesterday.
We have had the longest Covid-19 wave in the world since the Sabah state general election last September.
When will this Covid-19 wave end and we could go back to the Covid-19 pandemic situation pre-Sabah State general election particularly to the period when Malaysians celebrated the 63rd National Day on August 31, 2020 when we had 14 daily new Covid-19 cases and one Covid-19 deaths with a cumulative total of 9,340 cases and 127 Covid-19 deaths as compared to the present 8,075 daily new Covid-19 cases and 76 daily Covid-19 deaths and cumulative total of 2,285,640 Covid-19 cases and 26,759 Covid-19 deaths!
When will the daily new Covid-19 cases come down to triple-digit numbers as Indonesia achieved yesterday, with 922 new Covid-19 cases when Indonesia reached a daily peak of 56,757 cases on July 15, 2020 – all within 81 days?
Malaysia’s daily peak was 24,599 cases on August 26, before Khairy Jamaluddin was sworn in as the new Health Minister under the Ismail Sabri premiership.
Could we reduce the lesser peak of daily new Covid-19 cases in Malaysia to triple-digit numbers in his first Hundred Days as Health Minister by Dec. 7, 2021?
This will take us back to October/November 2020 when the daily new Covid-19 cases were in triple-digit numbers – and will be a great achievement of the political moratorium signed between Prime Minister Ismail Sabri and the Pakatan Harapan leaders on Sept.13 when they signed a confidence-supply-reform (CSR) memorandum of understanding (MOU) on Sept. 13 for all to focus single-mindedly on turning the tide and winning the war against the Covid-19 pandemic.
I reiterate my proposal that Khairy should convene a national conference on Covid-19 pandemic involving public and private health sectors and health NGOs (Non-Government Organisations) and NGIs (Non-Government Individuals) on how to bring daily new Covid-19 cases down to double-digit numbers and daily Covid-19 deaths to single-digit numbers.
A whole-of-society national conference to bring the daily new Covid-19 cases in Malaysia down to double-digit numbers and the daily Covid-19 deaths to single-digit numbers will be a significant and dramatic development to transform the Covid-19 pandemic into an endemic, and for Malaysians to “live with Covid-19” which I had suggested in July.
Malaysians must do their utmost to ensure that in the first Hundred Days of Khairy Jamaluddin as the new Heath Minister, Malaysia does not reach a cumulative total of 2.5 million Covid-19 cases and 30,000 Covid-19 deaths – which should also be an objective of the national conference on the Covid-19 pandemic.
One point worth noting in tracking Malaysia’s position in the Covid-19 pandemic is that for the first time for quite a while, Malaysia has fallen out of the world’s Top Ten nations in both daily new Covid-19 cases and daily Covid-19 deaths yesterday.
(Media Statement by DAP MP for Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang in Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday, October 5, 2021)
Sinar cahaya di penghujung terowong kegelapan Covid-19 semakin cerah dengan hanya 8,075 kes dan 76 kematian (termasuklah 15 kematian di bawa ke hospital) semalam, walaupun Indonesia semalam sudah berjaya menurunkan angka kes ke dalam julat dua angka
Sinar cahaya di penghujung terowong kegelapan Covid-19 semakin cerah dengan hanya 8,075 kes dan 76 kematian (termasuklah 15 kematian di bawa ke hospital) semalam, walaupun Indonesia semalam sudah berjaya menurunkan angka kes ke dalam julat dua angka .
Kita berhadapan dengan gelombang penularan terpanjang Covid-19 di dunia sejak daripada Pilihan Raya Negeri Sabah pada bulan September lepas.
Bilakah gelombang Covid-19 ini akan berakhir dan kita dapat kembali semula kepada situasi pandemik seperti sebelum Pilihan Raya Negeri Sabah, terutamanya seperti semasa sambutan Hari Kebangsaan ke-63 di mana kita hanya mencatatkan 14 kes baharu dengan hanya satu kematian akibat Covid-19 dengan sejumlah 9,340 kes terkumpul dan 127 kematian terkumpul. Kini kita mencatatkan 8,075 kes dan 76 kematian baharu dengan 2,285,640 kes terkumpul dan 26,759 kematian terkumpul akibat Covid-19!
Bilakah angka kes baharu ini akan turun ke julat tiga angka seperti yang dicapai Indonesia semalam dengan hanya 922 kes baharu, berbanding dengan kemuncak 56,757 kes pada 15 Julai 2021 — hanya dalam masa 81 hari?
Kemuncak tertinggi kes Covid-19 kita adalah 24,599 kes pada 26 Ogos, sebelum Khairy Jamaluddin mengangkat sumpah sebagai Menteri Kesihatan baharu di bawah pentadbiran Ismail Sabri.
Boleh kemuncak kes harian ini diturunkan ke julat tiga angka dalam seratus hari pertama beliau sebagai Menteri Kesihatan menjelang 7 Disember 2021?
Sekiranya perkara ini berlaku, kita akan kembali ke keadaan Covid-19 seperti mana dalam bulan Oktober/November 2020 di mana kes harian berada dalam julat tiga angka — dan akan menjadi satu pencapaian besar moratorium politik yang dipersetujui di antara Perdana Menteri Ismail Sabri dan pemimpin Pakatan Harapan pada 13 September dengan menandatangani memorandum persefahaman kepercayaan-perbekalan-reformasi (CSR) untuk menumpukan semua usaha kepada mengalahkan wabak Covid-19.
Saya ulangi semula cadangan saya supaya Khairy memanggil persidangan kebangsaan mengenai Covid-19 yang melibatkan pihak dari sektor kesihatan awam dan swasta dan NGO-NGO kesihatan sebagai sebahagian daripada usaha untuk menurunkan angka kes ini ke julat dua angka dan menurunkan angka kematian ke julat satu angka.
Persidangan kebangsaan yang melibatkan keseluruhan masyarakat ini menjadi salah satu perkembangan terbesar untuk mengubah pendekatan kita terhadap wabak Covid-19, daripada satu pandemik kepada suatu penyakit yang bersifat endemik, untuk membolehkan kita semua “hidup bersama Covid-19” seperti yang saya cadangkan Julai lepas.
Rakyat Malaysia juga perlu memastikan yang dalam seratus hari pertama Khairy sebagai Menteri Kesihatan, negara kita tidak mencapai sejumlah 2.5 juta kes terkumpul dan 30,000 kematian terkumpul akibat Covid-19 — perkara ini juga perlu menjadi sasaran persidangan kebangsaan tersebut.
Satu perkara yang penting untuk ditekankan, selepas mengikuti kadar kes dan kematian Covid-19 di Malaysia untuk sekian lamanya, semalam negara kita akhirnya terkeluar daripada kedudukan sepuluh teratas daripada kedua-dua kategori kes harian dan kematian baharu setiap hari.
(Kenyataan Media oleh Ahli Parlimen DAP Iskandar Puteri Lim Kit Siang di Kuala Lumpur pada hari Selasa, 5 Oktober 2021)