Malaysians have been warned. Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah has said that the healthcare system is at the precipice of collapse if the Covid-19 spread is allowed to persist at present levels. He said hospitals were forced to place patients at emergency and trauma wards in the Klang Valley, an alarming fact when hospitals are for treating all manner of diseases.
In fact, doctors, including the Health director-general, have urged the public needing hospital treatment to double mask given that the virus is airborne. When hospitals are being swamped by Covid-19 patients, the danger is obvious.
Indeed, the government is doing its best to get vaccinations to a level of somewhere between 70 and 80 per cent to ensure that herd immunity is achieved. Naturally, the faster, the better.
The recent hiccough was blamed by many countries on the West's monopoly of vaccine supplies. In recent weeks, the supply has been more forthcoming as these rich countries have donated vaccines to poorer ones.
And every effort must be made to persuade all Malaysians to take up this privilege. Given free, it is intended to safeguard the whole country. Examples in the United States and Israel do suggest that high vaccination rate areas are experiencing lower case rates despite the spread of the Delta variant, thus easing the pressure on hospitals.
If Malaysia with a population of merely 33 million can arrive at a vaccination level of 70 to 80
per cent soon, we can expect to see the easing of the danger to the nation's healthcare system, which, with private healthcare cooperation, has the potential of reversing the situation fast. But there has been evidence that protection is not 100 per cent. The need to remain aware of the war even when the battle is won cannot be disregarded.
An airborne disease, the Covid-19 virus can transfer itself from an infected person to another even when the two pass by one another on the street, so reports suggest. What more indoors when air circulation is not satisfactory. Standard operating procedures (SOP) cannot, therefore, be discontinued without risk. Face masks and physical distancing must be maintained, washing hands must be regarded as a good habit and continued. Homes should be kept well ventilated. Only in preventing the spread can we achieve elimination.
Granted some, even experts, are saying it is but the flu. One does not disagree, but it is a "flu" that appears to spread fast and kill quickly. The US alone has lost more than 600,000 souls almost needlessly, if freedom had not weighed so heavily on the minds of the public. The lockdown was perceived by far too many as a threat against their freedom.
In India, the early optimism and the resulting complacency have been wiped out as the country faced a massive and frightening surge. Even when science can help, it does so in stages with no guarantees for absolute effectiveness. Efficacy rates of vaccines are debatable and one can sense that commercial competition lurks between the brands.
Meanwhile, prevention has shown itself a superior and far cheaper solution. What of the economy? An economy can be rebuilt, but a life when death overtakes is an irreversible loss.