YS Chan
THE daily cases of COVID-19 infections in Malaysia hit an all-time high in January this year, with a total of 101,949 cases recorded for the month, or an average of 3,289 per day. Mercifully, the rate was brought down somewhat in February, with 85,793 cases averaging 3,064 per day.
We did relatively well in March with 44,748 cases recorded for the month, averaging 1,443 per day, which was maintained in the first two weeks of this month, averaging 1,452 per day. But it shot up by more than a thousand cases daily over the past 11 days, averaging 2,465 per day.
Clearly, there must have been some slacks here and there and if not tightened, we will certainly surpass the 3,000 mark. Surely, we do not wish to return to the record setting days when 5,725, 5,728 and 5,298 daily cases respectively were recorded on the last three days of January.
It should be noted that it took 11 months from the first COVID-19 case detected in the country to breach the 100,000 mark. Last December 24, total cases stood at 100,316, averaging 300 cases per day over the 334-day period.
If the rate of infections had remained triple digits this year, interstate travel would have been allowed and borders opened to select travellers from safer countries or cities. But tourism industry players continued to call for lifting of travel restrictions instead of clamping infections.
If many people had become lax in observing the required standard operating procedures (SOPs) to prevent catching or spreading COVID-19, or if control measures have slackened, then they ought to be tightened. Otherwise, we will continue to see wave after wave of unabated infections.– April 25, 2021
YS Chan is Asean Tourism Master Trainer for travel agencies, master trainer for Travel & Tours Enhancement Course and Mesra Malaysia (both programmes under Ministry of Tourism, Arts and Culture). He is also a tourism and transport industry consultant and writer.
The views expressed are solely of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Focus Malaysia.
