IT has been a week since this new year has begun. Everyone wished for a better year than 2020, yet there has been no respite, especially where our Covid-19 numbers are concerned.
Daily figures are still in the four-digit realm, hovering around the 2,000-case mark. Hospitals are almost at full capacity, as are low-risk quarantine and treatment centres.
Medical frontliners, too, are at breaking point. Our numbers are spiking because of a number of reasons, perhaps. Mandatory screening of foreign workers may be one. Another may be the lifting of the ban on inter-district and inter-state travel to and from Conditional Movement Control Order (CMCO) areas.
The recent holiday season also saw many people from red zones taking the opportunity to travel to other states. Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah is worried and has suggested targeted lockdowns or MCOs.
Perhaps it would be wise to take heed of his words. We are, at this point in time, losing the battle. Is it any wonder, then, that the United States-based Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation has projected that we may begin seeing 5,000 daily infections by the end of next month?
We have hope, of course, in the form o f Covid-19 vaccines promised us in the first quarter of the year. But the first doses are only likely be here next month or March. Why does it seem that we appear to have stopped taking precautions?
We should be precautious right up to the point vaccinations begin here, and beyond. Just look at the United Kingdom, which has begun vaccinations. Their numbers are still spiking. In fact, the nation is entering a new round of lockdown.
The reason for this is that it takes time for results to show. Yet, there are some who are calling for the 15th General Election to be held. Citing elections held in other countries, these quarters say it is possible for elections amidst the pandemic.
But is it prudent for GE15 to be held? Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin has said that the mandate will be returned to the people once the Covid-19 situation is under control.
Why not wait till then, especially with the vaccines coming soon?There are many factors that need to be taken into account.
Other countries may have successfully held elections, but at what cost? Economists say holding an election during a pandemic would be costly: as much as double the amount spent in "normal" years.
Experts also say it would be a public health disaster and detrimental to the authorities' efforts to strengthen the economy.
Have we not learned from the Sabah election? This Leader cannot help but agree with Dr Noor Hisham that there should be some form of stringent approach on how we manage the infection.
Reinstate the MCO if need be, if only for states where the number of daily infection is high. We may not have reached the proportions in the UK or the US, but it would be best if we start now, before the situation gets out of control.