HAVING heard the pleas and recommendations of various quarters, the Health Ministry has recommended that the interstate travel ban not be lifted for the upcoming Hari Raya Aidilfitri celebration.
With Covid-19 cases still on the rise, the situation is nowhere near resolved. It would be utter folly to allow interstate travel right now or for Aidilfitri.
There are so many reasons why we need to keep the interstate travel ban. The first and most obvious, one which even the simplest mind should be able to understand, is that our daily numbers are on the rise.
For two consecutive days now, we have had more than 2,000 new infections. All indications are that it will rise even more because of the second reason — our infectivity rate. That rate is now at more than 1.10 nationwide, with some states at an even higher figure.
What that means is that every person who is Covid-positive has the potential to infect more than one person.
A few months ago, it was projected that we would be consistently seeing less than 1,000 new daily cases by the middle of this month if our infectivity rate could be brought down to below 1.0.
That has not happened. In fact, at least 10 states are showing rates of more than 1.0. It is worth pointing out, too, that among the 10 are Putrajaya, Sabah and Perlis, all under the Recovery Movement Control Order (RMCO).
This is significant because interstate travel between RMCO states is allowed, though only via tour groups and using tour company vehicles.
The third reason is the growth of community clusters. While workplace clusters still dominate the headlines whenever Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah provides updates on the Covid-19 situation in the country, there are, inevitably, always one or two, or even more, community clusters detected each day.
How many of these are caused by interstate travel, perhaps only the authorities know. Only yesterday we learned of the Taman Rakyat cluster in Terengganu. The index case for this particular cluster was a man who travelled from Sabah to Terengganu to attend his younger sibling's wedding.
To make things worse, the wedding did not follow Covid-19 standard operating procedures (SOP). So far, the cluster comprises 26 people — 11 family members and 15 wedding guests — and this number will likely grow as the days pass.
Fourthly, the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme has barely begun. Yes, nearly 500,000 people have been fully vaccinated. Yes, more than 600,000 people have at least gotten their first dose. However, this is nowhere near the percentage of people we need vaccinated before we can achieve herd immunity.
The interstate travel ban is difficult to stomach, of course. We are a nation whose people are used to the balik kampung way of life whenever big festivals roll around.
Family is important to us all. There are times, though, where we must sacrifice. In fact, staying away from loved ones, as much as we hate it, is a way of caring for them when it comes to a pandemic.
We must do everything to prevent a fourth wave as that would be even more devastating. That is, of course, if we are not already facing the fourth wave.