It’s not the time to let our guard down

THE 1918 influenza pandemic took two years to overcome. But with current advances in technology, the world could halt the coronavirus “in a shorter time”, World Health Organisation head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in Geneva on Friday.

For now, however, it is important to realise that the war against Covid19 is far from over.

This is clear from the detection of the “super spreader” in the northern region of Peninsular Malaysia.

And if we are to draw another lesson from the 1918 pandemic, the second wave of the flu was even more devastating.

We have said it before and we will say it again – we need everyone’s cooperation to fight this infectious disease and prevent a subsequent full-blown wave of Covid-19 in the country.

It is our responsibility to ensure the well-being of not only ourselves and our family but also that of those around us and our community.

Each and every Malaysian has to be mindful and accountable for all actions as a member of society to stop the spread of this infectious virus.

We cannot be complacent and take for granted our actions, which could lead to serious consequences and cause another lockdown that will damage our economy.

Take the Sivagangga cluster in Kedah for instance, which was sparked by a nasi kandar restaurant owner who violated his mandated 14-day home quarantine order upon his return from India in July.

As a result of his irresponsible action, this infectious disease had spread to three areas in the state – Mukim Ah, Mukim Hosba and Mukim Binjal in Kubang Pasu district, and Kampung Ulu, Padang Sanai in Padang Terap – before breaking out in the neighbouring states of Perlis, Penang and Perak.

It grew into three generations of Covid-19 spread, infecting around 45 people. The afflicted areas in Kedah had to be put under lockdown by the authorities, impacting the livelihood of the people there.

This should serve as a serious reminder to all of us about how dangerous this disease can be, as well as the importance of not letting our guard down until a vaccine is found.

It is not just about washing hands or wearing face masks whenever we are in public places, but also about registering our details to mark the places visited for tracking purposes in the case of an outbreak.

A convenient way is to scan our personal details with the government-managed Mysejahtera mobile app, which the government plans to make mandatory.

But while Mysejahtera is a good application tracker that can be downloaded into our smartphone and is easy to use, there are still a lot of people out there who are sceptical of this initiative.

Many Malaysians are worried their personal details registered with Mysejahtera – to manage Covid-19 outbreak including close contact tracing – could land in the wrong hands and used by third party for telemarketing purposes, scamming and others.

They cannot be blamed – many Malaysians are bogged with the increasing number of telemarketing calls and messages daily, including scamming, despite having the Personal Data Protection Act 2010 to protect their details from being exposed and abused.

Hence, it is crucial that the government assure the people that Mysejahtera is safe to use.

The lack of such information and assurance is making the app less effective when it comes to contact tracing.

The government has to come up with a strong assurance to Malaysians that it will not be misused or that the data will not land in the wrong hands if it wants to make it a mandatory law.

While it is a good move to enforce a law to get some 15 million Malaysians who had downloaded the app to record their movements, the government cannot push this legislation without proper public assurance.

The onus is on the government to openly ensure Malaysians of its safe usage and protection before the law is gazetted.

Stay safe everyone.