Today, Selangor finally moves to Phase 2 of the Covid-19 National Recovery Plan (PPN), a good 4 months (121 days) since Selangor went into its 3rd MCO lock down in May 2021. This is probably the longest lockdown in the country, and all of us would definitely never want to have to go through it again.
I call upon the Ministry of Health and the Government to ensure that we never have to repeat this lengthy MCO moving forward, which has been devastating on our economy., the livelihood of our people and our mental health.
Now that cases in Selangor have dropped from a peak of 7000 cases to 2000 cases daily, we need to put in place 3 action items to ensure that we continue to bring down cases and not have them spike again, especially with more reopening of the economy and social activity that is allowed under Phase 2.
Firstly, we need to get ready for the 3 dose of Covid-19 vaccine. Booster shots need to be planned ahead, as we know that the delivery of vaccine supplies takes time from the time the order is first placed. MOH must ensure that we lock in our orders for the 3rd dose early, and to lock in the time frames for taking delivery. Many countries around the world, including our ASEAN neighbours are embarking on the 3rd dose, like Indonesia and Singapore.
MOH has a duty to vaccinate all Malaysians before starting the 3rd dose for the general public, MOH should immediately allow the private sector to start administering the 3rd dose to those willing to pay for it.
Secondly, is it now imperative to continue testing and isolating, to reduce the spread of the virus, so that we do not have to go into another lockdown. A highly efficient testing and isolating strategy is required so that we don’t U-Turn back to phase 1. Vaccination decreases hospitalization rates but even that effect seems to be waning off. Not just for Selangor, MoH needs to buck up its testing capacity throughout the country.
Finally, MoH also needs to prepare to be able to increase hospital capacity if the cases spike up for any reason. Equipment, medicine, medical personnel and volunteers should be on standby to ensure we can set up enough makeshift hospitals on short notice to take in cases that require hospitalization in case of a sudden surge of cases. Having the capacity to scale up when required will avoid going into lockdown again and again.
We have a second chance at this now that cases have dropped significantly, let us not waste it and cry when it is too late. It is a critical time now and while we are trying to balance the economy of the country alongside the pandemic, these three precautions have to be taken seriously.
I strongly urge the Ministry of Health to expand their testing capacity, have available makeshift hospitals and allow all GP to administer booster shots. Let’s remember that every step we delay, results in the loss of jobs,livelihoods and most importantly lives.