War with invisible foe requires extraordinary sacrifices, says KJ

• UPDATED 6.45PM | Added more details on Mosti’s initiatives, including a mapping application to show the spread of Covid-19.

CORONAVIRUS | Extending the movement control order (MCO) until April 14 is not an easy decision as it burdens the people, said Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Khairy Jamaluddin.

However, he added that health, scientific and epidemiological data demanded the extension to flatten the Covid-19 infection curve.

Khairy (photo) also pointed out that the nation is at war with an invisible adversary, which has prompted numerous countries to implement similar or stricter lockdowns.

“Times of war require extraordinary sacrifices.

“If the infection curve is not flattened, we might not have sufficient health equipment such as ventilators and beds in the intensive care units to treat patients,” he tweeted this afternoon.

The minister said if the MCO, which commenced on March 18 and scheduled to end on March 31, was not extended, the sacrifices of the people over the past two weeks would come to naught.

Referring to Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin's upcoming announcement of a more comprehensive stimulus package, Khairy assured that the government would do its best to help the people during this period of economic hardship.

Responding to a Twitter user who expressed concern over having to deal with both an outbreak and economic recession in Malaysia, Khairy said the stimulus package aims to avoid this.

“We want to avoid both, hence the economic stimulus package. But if we don’t defeat the pandemic first, some of us may not even be around to live through a recession,” he replied.

The minister said to assist the Health Ministry, the Higher Education Ministry (Mohe) and the Science, Technology and Innovation Ministry (Mosti) have set up 10 additional diagnostic labs at institutions of higher learning and university hospitals.

Among them, Khairy added, is a mobile lab which can be dispatched to hot spot areas.

In a separate statement later, Khairy said the two ministries have decided to collaborate during a meeting on March 20 and in further discussions on March 23 involving the Health Ministry, Mosti, and the Communications and Multimedia Ministry.

A testing protocol is being jointly developed with the Health Ministry, and the Institute of Medical Research is helping to train additional laboratory staff on the protocol.

Altogether, the ten labs will be able to conduct 1,414 tests per day.

It will help the Health Ministry achieve its goal to boost Covid-19 testing capacity to 16,000 tests per day in April.

In addition, Khairy said his ministry is expediting the evaluation of a Covid-19 test kit that was developed by Medical Innovation Ventures Sdn Bhd (Mediven) with funding from the Malaysia Technology Development Corporation (MTDC).

On March 18, Mediven announced that it has developed two laboratory test kits that use real-time reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction (rRT-PCR) to detect the presence of the virus that causes Covid-19.

One test kit can detect the virus that causes Covid-19 alone, while the other can detect and differentiate the virus along with other viruses that can cause respiratory diseases.

It promised that its test can deliver results within two-and-a-half hours.

Meanwhile, Khairy said Mosti is also developing a mapping application to help authorities monitor the spread of Covid-19 more, and warn members of the public to avoid the area.

In a televised address earlier, Muhyiddin announced the MCO extension and revealed that the nation recorded a total of 172 Covid-19 cases as of noon today, raising the total number to 1,796.

Malaysia has also recorded 17 deaths so far.

The prime minister said based on the briefing from the Health Ministry and National Security Council, the government is expecting the upward trend to continue.

He added that the government would also look into the need of extending the MCO beyond the April 14 deadline.

“Please stay calm and don't panic. Even though we have extended the movement control order, you don't have to unnecessarily stock up on food because the supply is sufficient.

"I assure you that food is enough for everybody," he said.

Keep up with the latest information on the outbreak in the country with Malaysiakini's free Covid-19 tracker. Malaysiakini is providing free access to the most important updates on the coronavirus pandemic. You can find them here. 

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