It’s time to play your part

Expert: support of MPS and public key to NRP success

PETALING JAYA: The National Recovery Plan (NRP) requires the commitment and support of all political parties and MPS for it to succeed, says a political analyst.

Assoc Prof Dr Sara Chinnasamy (pic) of Universiti Teknologi Mara said the support of community leaders as well as the public was also essential for the country to overcome the pandemic.

“The commitment of political leaders and political parties, especially elected representatives has not reached the maximum level to mobilise all entities in the community.

“The important thing is we need to understand what the NRP is, the different phases and how the plan is able to make us move forward in facing the pandemic.

“The parameters of each phase depend on the commitment of everyone,” she told reporters.

On June 15, Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin announced the NRP, which has four phases that would transition in stages, depending on three threshold indicators.

The indicators are the number of daily cases, the number of beds used in intensive care units and the percentage of the population fully vaccinated.

Assoc Prof Sara said the vaccination process under the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme was moving quickly with more people getting their jabs.

As of Saturday, the cumulative total number of doses administered stood at 20,533,660.

Of this, 13,816,971 have received the first dose while another 6,716,689 have completed the twodose regimen of the Covid-19 vaccine.

She said it was projected that Malaysia would be able to vaccinate most of its adult population by October.

Assoc Prof Sara said however, more political leaders could come forward and help to speed up the vaccination process by mobilising their own teams.

On the high number of Covid-19 cases, she said the public also had to do their part by following the standard operating procedures set by the government.

“We need the commitment of all. If not, we will face the same issue until next year,” she said.

Assoc Prof Sara said the government had spent a lot of money on various incentives and stimulus packages to assist those affected by the pandemic since March last year.

Recently, the government announced that most states were expected to move to Phase Four of the NRP as early as October.

To enable the transition to Phase Two, the average daily cases of Covid-19 nationwide should drop below 4,000, the public health system should be out of the critical stage, including the rate of bed usage in ICU returning to moderate levels, and 10% of the population be fully vaccinated.

For Phase Three, the transition could only take place after the number of infections had dropped below 2,000 cases and the healthcare system was at a comfortable level with enough beds available in ICU.

About 40% of the population should have received two doses of the vaccine before the recovery plan moves into the new phase.

The transition to the fourth and final phase will take place when the number of new cases drops to below 500 and the healthcare system is at a safe level with enough beds in ICU.