YOURSAY | ‘In such a situation, we have to help ourselves and each other.’

Govt still deliberating on stricter Covid-19 SOP, PM announcement Monday

GreenRabbit1287: People are taking this lightly as they see low death rates in Malaysia compared to the US, the UK and Europe.

When I speak to friends from these countries, who themselves or their family members are infected with Covid-19, many are still suffering from the long-term effect of this disease with some whose lung capacity is not even back to normal. Some remain in the hospital for months. This is why these developed countries are having tier 3 or tier 4 lockdowns.

We need to come out with a good and well-thought-through lockdown to protect the people and reduce local transmission so that we can control the situation and not stress our healthcare facilities further.

1. Businesses whose staff can work from home should allow this. They need to rethink the work environment. It doesn’t mean if you work in the office you can do more.

Today, with technology, we can all work efficiently remotely. My staff and I worked from home since March last year with no disruption to the business.

2. We should not rush to get our kids back to school, especially now that the pandemic is out of control. We have seen now with the new strain, kids are not immune as we had thought.

States with low infection rates can reopen their schools, but schools in states with high infection rates should remain closed.

3. The Education Ministry needs to think out of the box how to keep our kids learning. With technology, nothing is impossible.

We know our internet sucks, but most Malaysians have a TV at home. Work with TV stations on education programmes, especially for those ages 5-12 as they can continue to learn to read, write and count.

You also don’t need to reinvent the wheel; there are so many programmes accessible online. All you need to do is to adapt and make it relevant locally. We have so many talented people out of job, so get them to run such education programmes on TV. Have them available on YouTube too.

4. Interstate travel from red zones has to be restricted. Don’t forget that Chinese New Year is around the corner. Sorry to say, last December was like a party for many people - they went on holiday trips, attended social gatherings just like normal, and you can see all these from their social media posts.

Really, the government cannot expect people to practice SOPs (standard operating procedures) despite almost one year of educating everyone about this.

5. Businesses need not shut but we need to revert to previous stricter SOPs. We are better off than the Spanish flu pandemic, as today we have the digital platform to facilitate businesses. The likes of Grab, Lazada, Food Panda can play a role to help small businesses. And I have seen some are already doing this.

Our budget must look at investing tax monies more in education, healthcare, upskilling the rakyat as well as building our infrastructure to support new ways of doing business in the new economy, which is a priority and needs to be accelerated.

This pandemic has taught us that if we are not prepared, we will suffer. We need to invest in the future, create infrastructure and resources for the coming decades.

MarioT: This is a matter of urgency and as such, swift decision is expected from the authorities.

There has to be stricter control and rules implemented soonest to curb the rising numbers. It is better to be safe than sorry.

Mushiro: The Muhyiddin Yassin government is taking its own sweet time and is still evaluating actions that need to be taken immediately to control the spread of the virus.

In the meantime, the number of cases has gone up from two digits to three digits, and now almost mid-four digits.

It is time they leave this fight to a professional team of people. This government is just not capable, not focused, and has ulterior motives in their minds.

Anonymos: You don't even have to be a doctor or a PM to know that we should have a hard lockdown when we reached 500 cases a day.

Now hospitals are bursting at the seams and quarantine centres are sending people back home. Don't wait till Monday. This should have been done last September.

Pelican: There is no point waiting for the politicians. Malaysians should take things into their own hands and follow the SOPs, stay at home and avoid eating out, stop social gatherings and interstate travelling, etc.

In such a situation, we have to help ourselves and each other.

ProtossStargate1337: It’s not about coming up with SOPs, it’s about enforcing them.

Half of the people don’t wear masks and there is no interstate border control one week into the CMCO (conditional movement control order), so what’s the point of coming up with SOPs if no one gets saman (summoned)?

MokhtarAhmad: Education gatherings and meetings held in hotspots which are not a priority should be shelved for the moment. The rakyat's health should be prioritised.

Such meetings and gatherings would lead to more outbreaks as these personnel return to schools and institutions and spread the disease further.

GreenSalmon5378: We have much better control than the country down south at the beginning. They even experienced a sharp spike but with their brilliant minds/government, they successfully put it under control very fast.

But our dumb/incompetent backdoor government let the situation here deteriorate until it is beyond control now.

Ruslan Bahari: Bersatu wants a lockdown. Umno wants a general election. When will the needs (not wants) of the rakyat get attention?

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