LETTERS: In the light of controversy of the daily information released by the Hotspot Identification by Dynamic Engagement (HIDE) system, National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme Coordinating Minister Khairy Jamaluddin has assured the public that the National Security Council (NSC) will be meeting to iron out details.
Hopefully this will translate to the HIDE system undergoing a review which is urgently needed. What are the most popular malls in KL and in the HIDE list?
Mid-Valley Megamall, Pavilion and KLCC pop out immediately. As for PJ, 1Utama and Starling are favourites and attract big crowds. In terms of size and number of outlets, these malls are relatively huge compared to the other malls.
Similarly, the bigger and more popular malls in Penang and Johor Baru are also in the list. These bigger malls have much more to offer as well as market a wide variety of merchandise including food and services. Definitely they do attract bigger crowds.
As for the LRT stations, Prasarana Malaysia Berhad can confirm that KL Sentral, Masjid Jamek and KLCC are the most frequented stations in KL as they are located in the heart of KL City.
The above are the very places the HIDE system has identified that have the potential to turn into clusters if no pre-emptive actions are taken.
The HIDE listing is based on the data provided by the MySejahtera app, which shows the volume of patrons at these malls and the passenger traffic at the three LRT stations. A significant proportion of visitors use the MySejahtera app and hence such data is captured by HIDE.
In comparison, why are supermarkets and malls in smaller towns not included in the HIDE list? It is because of the relatively lower patronage (in terms of absolute numbers) and that a relatively high number of shoppers sign in manually rather than use the MySejahtera app.
Hence no data from these shoppers are captured in the system. When such data are not captured, is the information derived from the current HIDE system reflecting the whole picture?
The analogy is in the number of new reported Covid cases a day. The number of confirmed cases a day depends on how many persons are tested a day. The more tests conducted (especially in Selangor where free tests are now available), the higher the probability of detecting more cases.
So, the crux of the matter is the number of tests that is being carried out daily. Put it simply: no tests, no new cases. So, in the case of the malls and shopping complexes, no patrons, no listing in the HIDE list.
Malls and supermarkets in the urban areas are now unfairly punished merely by the stroke of a pen. Those listed under the HIDE system will be closed for three days.
They may undertake a thorough sanitisation and cleaning exercise during the closure period but it is the patrons who will bring in the virus; in other words places do not contribute to large Covid-19 cases but affected people do.
Hence when the malls reopen and the usual crowd returns, they will immediately be on the HIDE list again. It would be very difficult for the malls to implement a strict control mechanism in terms of who can and who cannot enter their premises.
As a newly-introduced system, HIDE can expect to have teething problems. It is not yet a tried and tested system and hence would require it to be tweaked or fine-tuned to better reflect the reality on the ground.
Mathematicians and economists can be called upon to improve on the algorithms to reflect the proportionality of incidence at each premises (affected/risky persons as a proportion of the total number of visitors).
Dr Pola Singh
Taman Tun Dr Ismail, Kuala Lumpur
The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect those of the New Straits Times