As national and civil society leaders coming together to issue this important statement on a non-partisan basis, we call on all Malaysians to do our part to cooperate and work together with the government and to move forward in one direction in dealing with the enormous Covid-19 pandemic crisis.
We must all ensure that public health and the welfare of our people are given top priority above anything else. We also call on the world community to cooperate and collaborate together to fight this deadly invisible enemy.
The three main components in dealing with and managing this Covid-19 crisis which the government, in general, has responded well so far, are:
a) Prevention, containment & control, with the current focus on “flattening the curve”, via
- Social distancing or isolation method (via lockdown or shutdown)
Time is of the essence and we support the recent government’s movement control order (MCO) for a shutdown of the entire country, which has now been extended to April. This is an appropriate and necessary measure, despite the huge economic and social cost.
Many other countries are also compelled to undertake such a drastic measure, some earlier (with better results) and some later (with horrifying consequences).
Money can always be made back later but you cannot bring back to life people who have been killed by this deadly and highly contagious virus.
The recent success of what has happened in Wuhan, the epicentre of Covid-19 in China, is a testimony to the effectiveness of this isolation method.
We must support and applaud our police, armed forces and other authorized personnel in enforcing the MCO, asking people not to gather anywhere and to stay at home as far as possible, for the sake of our country’s survival. - Testing and contact tracing
We are pleased that the government is getting help from China and South Korea for the supply and technical support for the many test kits needed in our country to identify people who are infected.
Using symptoms alone has been proven to be unreliable as many infected people have mild or no symptoms at all, especially at the initial stage.
The government should learn from South Korea on how they have successfully contained the spread of Covid-19 using reliable and easy-to-use test kits.
The success of contact tracing would require stricter enforcement by the authorities concerned to get the cooperation of the people who may have been exposed to those who are infected. - Hand washing
We must promote frequent hand washing, sanitising, avoiding hand contact and touching the face, and general hygiene.
- Wearing surgical facemasks
We must promote the wearing of surgical facemasks, during an epidemic or pandemic, for everyone in public places and not just for those with symptoms or are dealing with infected people.
The government should ensure there is an adequate supply of facemasks at affordable prices to the general public. We are pleased to know that China is now supplying 10 million face masks to our country.
The scientific basis and necessity on the use of face mask in an epidemic or pandemic situation has been proven beyond any doubt by our fellow Asian countries in containing and control of the SARS epidemic in 2003 and more recently, the Covid-19 pandemic.
It has often been argued that wearing a facemask (even properly) does not, in any way, protect a healthy person from receiving a virus from an infected person. This is false.
Wearing a facemask properly in public places, especially during an epidemic or pandemic, would not only prevent or reduce the chances of the virus of an infected person (with no symptoms) from spreading to others, it would also significantly reduce the chances of a healthy person wearing a face mask from receiving the virus by filtering out at least some of the virus and by deflecting the flow of a cough or sneeze from an infected person.
Otherwise, why are we asking the frontline healthcare workers to wear a facemask to protect themselves? Wearing a face mask is definitely far better than not wearing one and more studies and reports are now coming out to support the wearing of facemask in public places during an epidemic or pandemic.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the World Health Organisation (WHO) have just announced a major change of approach from their earlier contradictory and harmful policy of being against the wearing of facemasks in public unless the person is sick or is dealing with infected people, after having so many infections and deaths in the US.
They have now accepted the value of facemasks, worn by the general public, in preventing and controlling the spread of the coronavirus. They claimed that they have just found out that many people who are infected and contagious show little or no symptoms at all but the data about this matter has been out there for nearly two months.
As a start, the US government is now encouraging the public in the US, due to the shortage of surgical face masks, to wear a cloth-based face mask at least (better than nothing) when they go out.
The CDC & WHO still insist (correctly) that surgical facemasks must be worn by all frontline healthcare workers. But they have still not explained their earlier contradictory stand on why a masked face can protect a healthcare worker from getting infected but would not protect the general public from the same virus.
The severe shortage of face mask in the market is due to their unpreparedness, living in denial and having the wrong policy in the first place.
Wearing a mask face is not mutually exclusive from washing or sanitising hands frequently, not touching the face, social distancing and other measures needed.
Fear of people not wearing a face mask properly is not an excuse for not wearing one in public.
Public education on how to wear a face mask properly is needed. For example, any fear of people not washing their hands properly is not an excuse to tell people not to wash their hands frequently. Or any fear of people not practicing social distancing properly is not an excuse for not implementing social distancing.
What is needed is greater public education on how to properly implement such measures. - Healthy lifestyle
Promoting a healthy and stress-free lifestyle with a good nutritional diet (including proven herbs) to boost our body immunity. - The Japan example
Perhaps, Japan is a good example of what we can learn from in curbing Covid-19.
It was the first country to be impacted by Covid-19 in January this year with the cruise ship Diamond Princess from China and the ship became the first major outbreak of Covid-19 outside China with about 700 people infected.
But Japan seems to have controlled the situation well with about 3,500 infections so far in a highly dense population of 126 million people.
The secret of Japanese success seems to lie in their culture of cleanliness and hygiene, of frequent hand washing, no handshakes, keeping social distance when they can and perhaps the most important of all, wearing face mask as a habit in public places even when there is no epidemic.
The wearing of facemasks (60 percent wear facemask outside on normal days) has been ingrained from childhood.
b) Healthcare & Treatment
Providing Healthcare & Treatment to Infected Patients. This is a critical area to determine whether a patient would live or die. We applaud and wish to express our heartfelt solidarity to all our doctors, nurses and other frontline healthcare workers who are working around the clock to attend to the increasing number of infected patients. The Government seems to be doing everything it can to ensure there is adequate medical equipment such as ventilators, respirators, intensive-care beds and Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and other ancillaries needed. We are also pleased to know that the Government is now engaging retired doctors and nurses to help out and to be prepared for many more patients.
c) Development of a vaccine
The coronavirus is still known to be mutating but a vaccine can be expected in about 12-18 months away.
This area is out of our control and involvement and only the more medically advanced countries are able to develop the vaccine needed. We can only hope for the best.
A changed world
Much like many countries around the world, we are sailing in unchartered waters. We have no previous experiences to rely on, in dealing with such a contagious disease of this magnitude.
We must, therefore, keep an open mind and allow various views and ideas on the policies, practices or approaches needed to be adequately debated in public. No stone must be left unturned.
In this respect, the mainstream and Internet media play an important role to provide such a platform. Public health interest must come first and the media must adopt a “without fear or favour” approach in ensuring that all viable ideas, news and stories are accurately presented, reported and analysed.
We must prevent and stop the spread of this fatally infectious virus at all cost.
Whatever we do, we must be compassionate, fair and just to all. We must ensure that the welfare of the poor, needy and vulnerable would always be taken care of and that no sections of our society would feel neglected or sidelined by any stimulus programme.
We should rely more on the relatively successful track record of the practices adopted by our fellow Asian countries such as China, South Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Japan in containing and controlling the spread of Covid-19, in treating and caring for their patients and based on their previous experience with SARS.
We should also learn and draw lessons from the weaknesses, failures and mistakes of other countries in dealing with this pandemic such as unpreparedness, playing divisive and race politics, living in denial, lack of knowledge, skills and experience needed to prevent, contain and control the spread of the virus, and the lack of medical resources needed to treat their patients.
The world and our country would never be the same again. We have not even seen the end yet.
There are many lessons to be learnt from this most devastating global pandemic since the Spanish Flu of 1918-19 which killed more than 50 million people globally.
This coronavirus, like its cousin SARS virus, is believed to have originated from nature’s wildlife (bats), which we have destroyed wantonly for our pleasure including their habitat. We must learn to be far kinder, more environmentally friendly and have a much greater respect for Mother Nature.
We must change our wasteful, polluting, unhealthy and unsustainable lifestyle. It must not be business as usual again. Our outlook and ways of doing things must change or we will all, sooner or later, perish from this planet.
The Covid-19 pandemic is an earthshaking wake-up warning to Mankind to start thinking and doing the right things.
We ignore this warning at our own peril.
TENGKU RAZALEIGH HAMZAH is the Gua Musang MP and former finance minister.
HASHIM MOHD ALI is the former chief of defence forces, and former chairperson and CEO of the 1998 Commonwealth Games.
KK TAN is an analyst, columnist, CEO of the Asian Peace Museum Project, and director of the Covid Research Centre.
SALLEH MOHD NOR is the former director-general of the Forest Research Institute Malaysia and former president of the Malaysian Nature Society.
RAMON NAVARATNAM is a former senior civil servant and chairperson of Think Tank Group.
NOOR FARIDA ARIFFIN is a former ambassador and former judge.
SHABUDIN ABDUL WAHAB is the former deputy director of management (training), Bukit Aman.
The COVID RESEARCH CENTRE is a newly set up non-profit research and analysis unit under the Asian Heritage Museum Group.
The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.
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