Lim Kit Siang seeks Khairy’s explanation on high rate of Covid-19 fatality

KUCHING: Democratic Action Party (DAP) veteran parliamentarian leader Lim Kit Siang demands Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin to explain the high Covid-19 fatality rate in the country.

The Iskandar Puteri MP said Malaysia Friday recorded 6,630 new Covid-19 cases and 78 Covid-19 deaths, including 17 Brought-in-Dead (BID) cases.

“I am disturbed by the persistent high Covid19 fatality rate in Malaysia. In contrast, Indonesia recorded 760 new Covid-19 cases and 33 deaths – 42 per cent of Malaysia’s death figures although Indonesia has eight times Malaysia’s population,” he said in a statement today.

Lim said he had been waiting for Khairy’s long-delayed explanation about Malaysia’s high Covid-19 fatality rates, the high BID rates and why Malaysia is the worst-performing nation in Asean in terms of Covid-19 fatality rates.

According to the DAP lawmaker, Malaysia is above the Asian and world averages for both the categories of ‘total Covid-19 deaths per million population’ and ‘daily Covid-19 deaths per million population’.

“The Asian average for ‘total Covid-19 deaths per million population’ for Oct 21 is 247.78 and the ‘daily Covid-19 death per million population’ is 22.58, while the world average for ‘total Covid-19 deaths per million population’ is 626.01 and the ‘daily death per million population’ is 58.05.

“Malaysia is above both the Asian and the world averages, as Malaysia’s ‘total Covid-19 deaths per million population’ is 861.42 and ‘daily Covid-19 death per million population’ is 189.47,” he pointed out.

He asserted that it is not enough for Khairy to be a better health minister than his immediate predecessor Datuk Seri Adham Baba.