The tragic record of the highest daily COVID-19 deaths of 153 on 18 July causing the cumulative death toll to exceed 7,000, reminds us of the importance of a swift and smooth implementation of the National Immunisation Programme(PICK). Early delivery of vaccines and a faster vaccination rate could have prevented many of the over 7,000 deaths.
Daily infections have also hit record highs following the whole-of-government failure with policy flip-flops and SOPs U-turns, double-standards in enforcement of Movement Control Order(MCO) restrictions between the ordinary rakyat and VIPs and incompetence. There is a growing realisation that to win the battle against COVID-19 there must first be a change of mindset from pure containment to mitigation.
Since the government has lost the battle to contain COVID-19 there must be a shift to mitigation by accepting the reality of society living with COVID-19. Clearly total lockdowns have failed to reduce the record daily infections and death toll due to the whole-of-government failure.
Instead, the serial total lockdowns have caused untold hardships to the economic livelihood of Malaysians with jobs lost and businesses closed down. There must be a shift towards targeted lockdowns and higher vaccination rate. Lives are lost not only from COVID-19 but also from loss of economic livelihood with the increase in suicide rates.
A whole-of-society effort is essential to succeed against COVID-19 with targeted lockdowns and higher vaccination rate. The appointment of DAP MP for Bangi Dr Ong Kian Ming, announced by Science, Technology, and Innovation Minister Khairy Jamaluddin, as the coordinator in Selangor for the vaccination ramp-up is a step in the right direction. This gives a higher chance of success for the goal to ensure every adult in Selangor and Kuala Lumpur receives at least one dose of the Covid-19 vaccine by August under Operation Surge Capacity (OSC).
For the OSC to succeed, professional expertise trumps political partisanship, acceptance that mistakes can be made, and there must be a willingness to listen to dissenting opinions. Nothing can be more important under the OSC than to reduce the daily infections, death toll and those with serious Covid-19 cases who need to be hospitalised and put in the intensive care unit.
DAP is willing to fully support both the PICK and OSC. For this reason, DAP suggests that the state OSC co-ordinator be also appointed for the PH-ruled states of Penang and Negeri Sembilan where close cooperation can be forged between Federal and state governments to make PICK and OSC a success.