Ku Li: Test as many as possible as there could be people who are asymptomatic
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia has been urged to increase its testing capacity despite its falling number of Covid-19 cases.
Former finance minister Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah said although Malaysia had registered low infection rates, there could be people who were Covid-19 positive but asymptomatic.
He attributed this to Malaysia’s porous borders and millions of migrant workers, as well as a majority of citizens who had yet to be tested for the virus.
“We do not know the actual situation until enough tests are done.
“The United States Centre for Disease Control and Prevention has announced that for every infected person detected in the country, there are at least 10 more infected people who are undetected, meaning as many as 27 million people in the US could be infected today,” he said yesterday.
Tengku Razaleigh said the authorities should test as many people as possible and take a page from other countries by way of contact tracing.
He said Malaysia should be realistic about achieving zero cases as it might not be sustainable to maintain such a streak until a vaccine was found.
The Umno veteran cited the example of Beijing registering zero Covid-19 cases for 56 days until one broke its streak on June 10.
On June 14, there were 51 cases.
He said even New Zealand, a secluded island of about five million people, reported two new cases on June 17 after a 24-day streak of zero cases.
He said it was the government’s duty to ensure that standard operating procedures were implemented besides providing the public healthcare and treatment to prepare the country for future waves of Covid-19 infections.
“Until a vaccine is found, we have to find the right balance of social measures needed to control future infections and how to carefully open up our damaged economy to stop the haemorrhage.”
The government had stated that the tourism sector, which was the worst hit, had lost RM45 billion in the first half of the year.
It had warned that there could be RM1 trillion in losses due to the collapse of the banking and financial systems if the economy did not open up soon.
“This is the greatest challenge today for our country (and other countries) to address,” said Tengku Razaleigh.
He called on the government as well as the financial sector to do more to support and facilitate private-sector initiatives in finding and securing a vaccine from reputable sources overseas.
This, he said, was the only way to end the “silent genocide” caused by the virus.
He said the country’s survival during the pandemic was too important for the crisis to be politicised by any quarter.
“I call upon all parties, sectors and the public to support the government in managing this crisis.
“Our country needs to be united in facing this dangerous and invisible threat.”