KUALA LUMPUR – As the country logged a record high in daily Covid-19 cases today, Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim took a scathing swipe at the government over its failure to contain infections over a year after the pandemic started.
In a Facebook livestream, the opposition leader slammed the Perikatan Nasional administration for not learning from past experiences, noting how it has failed to address longstanding and recurring issues concerning the pandemic.
Among others, Anwar said the decision to implement a blanket restriction nationwide as opposed to a more targeted one had raised eyebrows, along with the lack of mass testing being conducted.
“The people should know that Covid-19 testing must be increased.
“Other than Selangor, which has taken its own initiative to conduct screening, the rate of testing is very poor at the moment,” said the PKR president.
Additionally, Anwar pointed out how public and private hospitals are currently facing a severe shortage of beds in intensive care units (ICU) allocated for Covid-19 cases.
“Presently, there are about 1,100 ICU beds allocated for the pandemic, 850 of which are in public hospitals and 250 in the private sector.
“But we also know of experts saying that the shortages had existed even before the Covid-19 crisis, yet the measures taken by the government have been very weak.
“I would like to ask: over the past one year or more, why weren’t these measures undertaken? In the end, this has only burdened the people.
“We can’t be making panicked decisions without learning from experience and making the necessary preparations.
“Priority should be on education and health now, not on mega projects,” he said.
Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah announced that the country logged 6,075 new infections today, with Selangor making up 2,251 of the caseload.
The country still has a record high number of cases despite the implementation of the emergency and nationwide movement control order (MCO), with most economic activities still allowed to operate.
Anwar said it is perplexing that the government has failed to use existing data – showing an increase in movement typically followed by a spike in cases – to make more informed decisions.
In a limited data study conducted by his office that was published on May 16, it was found that the increased driving index pattern in Malaysia, especially in the Klang Valley, highly correlates with the surge in Covid-19 cases.
“I’m surprised that every time (restrictions are relaxed and numbers increase), there appears to be a panic reaction, when this could have been predicted about three weeks earlier (based on the amount of movement).
“If we don’t learn our lesson from the past year, this will only lead to bigger problems,” he said. – The Vibes, May 19, 2021
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