IN the name of force majeure, the Government must make a last-ditch attempt to shelve the resumption of umrah (optional pilgrimage) trip which comes into effect tomorrow (Feb 8), in the wake of a spike in COVID-19 cases in the country, with 10,089 cases reported yesterday.
The last time Malaysia surpassed the 10,000 mark was on Oct 2 last year with 10,915 cases – hence, allowing such trip to proceed is tantamount to putting the lives of 34 million Malaysians at risk for the sake of a few hundred umrah and hajj travel agencies.
If money is all that matters here, then Tabung Haji should step in with a compensation mechanism for potential pilgrims, instead of subjecting them to travel and risking their lives.
After all, Malaysia is expected to reach 22,000 COVID-19 cases by end-March with the present R0/Rt reading of 1.2, according to Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah.
“We are not out of the woods yet. The onus is on us now to come together and brace the surge of cases. However, more importantly, we have to anticipate the high number of cases with less severity, less hospitalisation and less fatality,” he was reported as saying.
The 22,000 cases projection is not far-fetched from that of Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin, who said Malaysia is now experiencing the “full might of the Omicron wave”, with new cases expected to hit 15,000 soon amid the spread of the highly contagious coronavirus variant.
“Fully into Omicron wave. Cases will reach 15k soon. There are still one million senior citizens who have not had their booster doses. Please inform your loved ones to get their booster dose immediately,” the Rembau MP tweeted yesterday (Feb 6).
Having said that, postponing the umrah trip is an ideal option, It is not about denying the rights of Muslims from pursuing their pilgrimage or to rob travel agencies of a business opportunity. It is basically to prevent yet another potentially devastating outbreak, whereby umrah pilgrims accounted for 157 of the 245 Omicron cases reported as of Jan 6.
To make matters worse, it was later found that 14% of umrah pilgrims who returned to the country with the Omicron variant did not have any vaccination record.
Unprecedented times need unique measures
Recall that Malaysia has temporarily suspended umrah pilgrimages from Jan 8, with returning pilgrims subjected to mandatory quarantine at designated centres from Jan 3 due to concerns over the Omicron variant, especially among returnees from Saudi Arabia.
And it did not help as many umrah returnees were found to have broken home quarantine rules and had problems complying with health protocols.
However, the Cabinet had on Jan 26 decided to allow Muslims to resume their umrah pilgrimages from Feb 8, according to Tourism, Arts and Culture Minister Datuk Seri Nancy Shukri.
She said the decision was made as the Government did not intend to extend the postponement period of umrah trips, which came into effect on Jan 8 following transmission of the Omicron COVID-19 variant infection.
According to Nancy, the standard operating procedure (SOP) for umrah trips is still the same except that it is now compulsory for pilgrims to take the booster jabs.
As prevention is always better than to seek a cure when a disaster has struck, temporarily shelving the umrah trip is deemed to be the best option around. After all, even having a booster shot these days is no guarantee that a person will be immune from the Omicron or other potential COVID-19 variants.
To make matters worse, the pilgrims that comprised of elderly individuals will be at higher risk of contracting the Omicron variant, or even to recover in the event they get infected. – Feb 7, 2022
