‘The warning to manufacturers by the International Trade and Industry Ministry (Miti) reported over the weekend raises very serious questions on the handling of the Covid-19 pandemic. According to reports, Miti is involved in 99 of the more than 300 Covid-19 clusters in the country. This makes the manufacturing sector the main source of Covid-19 infections. Also, Miti indicated that there would be a shutdown/strict lockdown if Covid-19 numbers did not improve...
‘First, if indeed manufacturing is the main source of infections – it is no secret that cramped living quarters are the main source of Covid-19 – why is there no public information on this? Why is the matter only between manufacturers and the government?...
‘There are other questions, too. With the rising cases and contact tracing, it should have been obvious that the hospital system would reach full capacity and be strained. Why was there not enough serious effort put in to ease the strain on hospitals? When did we know that hospitals were going to be strained? Why wait so long before we announce it and formulate measures to take care of that? Why did contact tracing break down? What do we do now? What is the alternative?...
‘And then, there is the matter of the vaccine. Why was Khairy Jamaluddin, minister of science, technology and innovation, appointed to lead our search and procurement of suitable vaccines? It should have been led by health authorities. Let’s get this right, because the success of Covid-19 containment finally depends on it. Why the seeming delay in getting our vaccine rolled out? Why is our vaccine not yet ready? Singapore has got theirs, even Ecuador and Indonesia have theirs.
‘But where is ours? Why is it later than others? Are we prepared to roll out the vaccines in time, or will it take till next year, when enough of us are inoculated? And, have all the concerns about vaccination been sufficiently addressed?’
Read here (The Vibes, Jan 26, 2021)
