A Battle We Are Prepared to Lose

 

 

By Stephen Ng

4 August 2021 (Wednesday)

(Note: This article was originally written on 2 August 2021. However, it was held back out of respect for the Director-General of Health and the difficult situation he finds himself in. However, tough questions have to be asked. 

Of course, the PAC had had their meeting on Monday despite some initial hiccups. The PAC chairman Wong Kah Woh gave a press conference in the evening.

I only decided to release this article, after reading Dr Abu Bakar Suleiman's comments in Free Malaysia Today) 

To be fair to DG Noor Hisham, we will wait for his official statement about the number of cases of Covid Positive of Delta Variant in parliament recently. Apparently, he claimed that he was been misquoted by The Star article on the four Delta variant cases. Instead, there were a total of 23 positive cases during parliamentary session, and of this, six cases may be Delta positive based on the preliminary results. Confirmation can only come within 8-14 days. 

To avoid confusion, as information is skill very sketchy, we will wait for the official statement when it is released. 

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Allow me to make my observations here about the current Covid-19 pandemic that we are facing.

         When I first wrote this article on August 2, it was indeed sad to see that a lot of things were not in order despite the royal rebuke. Hopefully, by today, things would be looking brighter but if the power grab continues, it would create further trust deficits in the eyes of the rakyat. 

         The parliament has not been in session for a few months now. The Perikatan Nasional under Muhyiddin Yassin were able to issue various ordinances during the Emergency without going through the motion of debates. Former Minister of International Trade and Industry, Rafidah Aziz had also alleged that the PN government had spent nearly one trillion Ringgit.  

         How much is really spent on the vaccines, for example, is now anyone’s guess! This is the result of not having checks-and-balances, which is really the job of the Dewan Rakyat. 

         For this reason, Wong Kah Woh who is the Parliamentary Accountability Committee (PAC) Chairman insisted on the PAC meeting to proceed on Monday, despite the sudden closure of the parliament. To the Rakyat, this appeared to be evasion on the part of Muhyiddin’s government. This, of course, did not go well with everyone, since the country's economy has taken the beating.

         Lockdowns are important but did we do it correctly? With the flip flops, even I am unable to follow the new standard operating procedures that are being introduced or revised. Are we supposed to cross districts now? Can we have an additional one or two passengers per vehicle? I don't know! 

         Hence, I can understand all our frustrations with the Muhyiddin government for the past two years.

         Now, when parliament is supposed to be in session today to go through the motion of vote of no-confidence against Muhyiddin and his administration. This is a legitimate parliamentary process, but suddenly we are told that the four Covid cases are possibly of Delta variant. This is why questions are asked, but there are no answers.

                  My questions remain:

(a)        Didn’t the Director-General of Health, Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah state clearly in theStar: “All four close contacts have not attended the sitting since the first day and they are under the ministry’s care.” 

(b)        If these four cases, which are yet to be confirmed Delta (or even Kappa) variant (usually 10-14 days), why then the parliament had to be suddenly closed for two weeks? This is, especially when the four cases were detected prior to the parliamentary sitting and, I quote once again Dr Noor Hisham's statement, "they have not attended the parliamentary sitting since the first day"? 

          Why then was his concern about the Delta (and Kappa) variant used as a excuse to block the parliamentary meeting on Monday? We have been talking about the Delta variant in more high risk situations such as the airconditioned mega vaccination centres, but no one is hearing!

(c)        Just last Thursday, we were told there was no Covid outbreak in parliament. Apparently, this was to dispel the fake news by some quarters. Dr Hisham stated that "all 56 cases with Covid were barred from participating in the parliamentary session." 

          If all these 56 cases and the earlier batch of 4 Delta cases were all quarantined, why all the sudden the Delta variant was brought up to block parliament from meeting to decide if Muhyiddin had the numbers to pull through the crisis? 

There have been so many other cases of infection in schools, in shopping malls, in factories and other workplaces. 

What are the statistics of people being infected by the Delta virus, especially when they were in an airconditioned environment within a built environment? Were the 200 cases in IDCC Shah Alam also due to the Delta variant? 

What about the cases of those who dropped dead in public places? Are they also due to the Delta variant? Can the Ministry of Health please provide the full statistics so that the people know what their relatives die from? 

(d)        Just last week, we are told that various ministers had met up at Muhyiddin’s mansion. Presumably, his residence would be airconditioned, what difference does it make for them being able to meet, since Delta as we know is airborne and its spread is assisted by the airconditioning system? 

It is also learnt that some 30 BN members of parliaments had met up secretly, when the MCO is still on? Perhaps, this did not happen. Then, this is fake news, no?

The Delta variant is airborne, but if the parliamentarians choose to wear the full PPEs like the medical frontliners to attend the parliament, why not? After all, we are already known for all the crazy things.

This is what makes the rakyat unhappy with the double standards. A lot of us are also asking whether the authorities have issued summonses to the ministers who met at the Prime Minister’s residence. After all, it is the same group of people who came out with all the ordinances. Let us know, please? 

This is one reason why even a medical specialist with KPJ Damansara Specialist Hospital, Dr Musa Mohd Nordin has seen it fit to school the Minister of Home Affairs, Hamzah Zainudin. 

In Malaysia Dateline August 1, 2021, Dr Musa has contrasted the two scenario: one an open air protest, the other a meeting at Muhyiddin’s home. 

We have to be consistent in the way we handle the Covid pandemic, and the Rakyat is not stupid. The Rakyat is watching.

(e)        We are told that the IDCC Shah Alam had to be closed down for a day or two for sanitization after over 200 people were tested positive. 

I have asked the director-general of health this question: Were these cases due to the Delta variant? No answer! Now, for the record, I have to ask the Minister of Health to tell us whether these cases were caused by the super spreader variant. Else, how can I even explain to my children the Delta variant is more virulent? Have we not learnt from this one lesson? 

(f)         In many countries which have managed to fully vaccinate their citizens, there are no mega vaccination centres. We all know that the Delta variant is a super spreader (in the order of one person affecting 12 persons), then, why bring so many people together to a centralized location? 

In Singapore, for example, they have smaller set-ups in many smaller vaccination centres and clinics, where vaccination was administered efficiently based on the appointment time. In Turkey, I have seen an application that allows people to make appointment and go to the nearest vaccination centre or clinic of your choice. 

Despite all the hue and cry over the mega vaccination centres in Malaysia, the minister-in-charge of vaccination, Khairy Jamaluddin is still adamant about it. Why? Are we not putting the lives of thousands of people including the volunteers, the police and the general public at stake?

                  Allow me to quote a friend from Singapore:

“The vaccination process is around 5 mins per person. A normal centre can vaccinate about 10 people at the same time. So you will have some 30-40 people around the same time in the hall waiting to be vaccinated.

“After getting vaccinated, one has to wait in a holding area for 30 minutes. There will be around 50-60 people in the holding area at  any one time.

“Clinics can be either government (polyclinics) or private. Both are available.”  

        With all that I have shared here, how can I say that we have tackled the Covid situation effectively, despite some six months of Emergency and several rounds of lockdown?

        If we continue as business-as-usual, we have to be prepared to lose this major battle against the invisible enemy -- the Corona virus! 

                 Meanwhile, take care and stay safe! 

Official Statements: 

Kenyataan Akhbar KPK 30 Julai 2020 - Situasi Semasa Jangkitan COVID-19 Semasa Pelaksanaan Sidang Mesyuarat Khas Parlimen

1. Pada 29 Julai 2021 jam 12.30 tengah hari, Kementerian Kesihatan Malaysia (KKM) telah dimaklumkan mengenai dua (2) kes baharu positif COVID-19 yang telah hadir ke Parlimen.

2. Sehingga jam 8.00 malam 29 Julai 2021, seramai 1,183 individu telah menjalani ujian saringan pengesanan COVID-19 menggunakan ujian kendiri RTK Ag saliva test kit pada 29 Julai 2021. Daripada jumlah yang disaring tersebut, sebanyak sembilan (9) lagi kes dikesan positif COVID-19 menjadikan secara keseluruhan sepuluh (10) kes yang dikesan melalui RTK Ag saliva test kit (1 kes tengah hari, 9 kes petang). 

3. Secara keseluruhan, sebanyak sebelas (11) kes positif telah dikesan pada 29 Julai 2021 iaitu sepuluh (10) melalui RTK Ag saliva test kit dan satu (1) melalui RT PCR.

Untuk kenyataan penuh, baca lanjut di: https://kpkesihatan.com/2021/07/30/kenyataan-akhbar-kpk-30-julai-2020-situasi-semasa-jangkitan-covid-19-semasa-pelaksanaan-sidang-mesyuarat-khas-parlimen/

On the four samples tested earlier:

Today IMR received 4 samples for whole genome sequencing from Makmal Kesihatan Awam Kebangsaan Sg Buloh. These four samples are related to the positive cases in parliament screened on 29 July 2021 where subsequent diagnostic RT PCR showed positivity with low CT value.

We had carried out a PCR genotyping assay that can provide presumptive results for variants of concerns/interest.

Whole genome sequencing (WGS) takes about 8-14 days to complete. In the interest of public health concerns, while awaiting results from WGS,  the IMR carried out a genotyping assay ( Allplex SARS-CoV-2 Variants II Assay) which utilizes real time PCR platform and can provide a presumptive results for variants of concerns/ interests within 4 hours. 

All four cases detected two important mutations that indicates presumptive positive for delta or kappa variants. 

Based  on current circulation of variants in Malaysia, it’s most likely to be Delta variant.