Today is Friday, the first day of Ramadan, Year 1441 of the Hijriah. Today was also supposed to be the first of the last 5 days of the second extension of the MCO, or PKP, or SAH (stay at home lah !) order. As expected, yesterday the PM announced another 2-week extension of the Order to 12th. May. If no further extensions are made, we would have been locked down for 55 days.
Singapore has announced an extension until the end of May. Not surprising because of the turn of events, mostly coming from the hostels housing the immigrant workers. What I said earlier about the island's seeming efficacy in dealing with the pandemic was said a bit too soon, it seems.
I looked at the WHO ranking and am surprised that Malaysia is in a better position than Singapore, not that this is a frivolous contest. This is a deeply grave and deadly situation. But looking down the list, I'm also puzzled at the ratios given to our neighbours, Indonesia, the Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, and Brunei. China and India both have almost equal mammoth populations of 1.4 billions each, and they also show eye-brow- raising figures. The US, of course, has taken the world lead. This is one lead they're probably not proud of. And watching on tv the governors doing their own things against the background of the White House pandemonium, putting insular politics above medical science, I cannot but wonder in bafflement how the world can put its future in these clowns' hands. The virus may be biding its time, fermanting, fermenting and just waiting for the right time to burst out and ravage all in its path.
Let's look at the current figures:
Rank/Country Population Cases Deaths Per million pop
Cases Death Test
1. USA 331 m. 879,430 49,769 2,657 150 14,173
9. China 1.4 b. 82,798 4,632 68 3 n.a.
16. India 1.4 b 23,039 721 17 0.5 363
27. Singapore 5.8 m. 11,178 12 1,911 2 16,203
36. Indonesia 274 m. 7,775 647 28 2 219
42. Philippines 109 m. 6,981 462 64 4 660
44. Malaysia 32m 5,603 95 173 3 3,627
57. Thailand 70 m. 2,839 50 41 0.7 2,043
122. Vietnam 97 m. 268 n.a. 3 n.a. 2,119
133. Brunei 437,000 138 1 315 2 20,413
136. Cambodia 16.7 m. 122 n.a. 2 n.a. 345
179. Laos 7.3 m. 19 n.a. 3 n.a. 201
If these figures are true, the inference is staggering.
For one, China and India, with 2.8 billion people, must be visited just to be believed. And you're familiar with those photos of the slums and the sprawling cities.
For another, that Brunei, Singapore and the US can record those large numbers of tests, while China offers zero is beyond belief.
The 3,627 tests in Malaysia seem acceptible, but are they enough ? I see Malaysians flouting the MCO nonchalantly with my own eyes, and I shudder to think of what else go on undetected, and therefore unaccounted for. And all the while the question remains, are we doing the right tests ?
When the first news came in January, a lot of countries didn't give it enough importance, I don't think. Certainly Trump in USA didn't, and to this day, I might add. But just look at the figures. In my last blog just a week ago I said there were then 1 million cases, with 95,000 deaths. Today the figures are more than 2.7 million cases, with more than 190,000 deaths. All records on world epidemics are on threat now.
What can we do now ? There's no vaccine. There are not enough "frontliners" and testing and quarantine centres. People are getting desparate because of loss of income. Control on humans against spread of disease is unenforcible, just human nature. Politics take over reason. And whatever is reported may just be the tip of the iceberg. Will the world simply sink like the Titanic ?
With Ramadan upon us, it's the right time to lift our palms to the Maker in supplication, Amin.
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