Sin Chew Daily

The numbers of daily new coronavirus infections have been rising sharply in recent days, with 432 cases reported yesterday and a high of 691 today!

The virus has been battering the world since the beginning of the year. While it was somewhat under control momentarily, governments across the globe took a sigh of relief and became complacent, giving the virus an excellent opportunity to propagate. Even US president Donald Trump is not spared.

Our fight against the virus was once highly commended by the world, thanks to the concerted effort of the government and health authorities. Unfortunately, just as the situation saw some improvement, we began to drop our guard, allowing the virus to spread rapidly in our midst. The recent Sabah state elections and the frequent cross-state travels, have vastly increased human-to-human contacts, creating a unique opportunity for the virus to expand.

Many were deeply concerned about holding the Sabah elections in the midst of pandemic, worrying that the situation would go out of control. Indeed, it is now proven that such concerns have not been totally unfounded, as many politicians traveling to Sabah to campaign for candidates from their parties have now tested positive for COVID-19.

Malaysians have been battling so hard during the past half a year against the virus while at the same time struggling to make ends meet, given the severely bruised economy. Nevertheless, our politicians have opted to focus more on power struggle and planning coups.

As a matter of fact, holding an election during the pandemic has never been an advisable option in the first place. With the outbreak now out of hand, rival political camps are beginning to point their fingers at one another but this is not going to help at all. There are winners and losers in the election, but the biggest losers are none other than the rakyat having to face the threat of the coronavirus.

Political leaders should set a good example during the pandemic in order to lead the nation in our battle against the virus. In reality, we have seen political leaders who have set very bad examples for the people. Malaysians will drop their guard seeing that our leaders are not serious about the outbreak and have failed to comply with the SOPs.

We need to emphasize that the recent spike in new COVID-19 cases is a warning sign that warrants serious attention from the government as well as rakyat to curb the spread of the virus.

The country first imposed the movement control order in March when we saw a surge in the number of infections. This has not only inconvenienced the people but has also hampered our vulnerable economy, pushing up unemployment. Even though the government subsequently relaxed the control measures, market vitality is yet to be fully restored to this day.

According to Companies Commission of Malaysia (SSM) statistics, some 21,176 private companies across the nation closed down from March through September this year, showing that the national economy is bleeding. If the MCO is reinstated, many businesses will have to go bust eventually.

As a matter of fact, the country's economy cannot afford to withstand the impact from a second MCO.

Defense ministry senior minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob recently said despite the deteriorating situation in the country, the government would not impose another nationwide MCO just because of sporadic cases reported in several states. While this has offered a breather for local businesses, we have no way to tell whether the government will reverse the decision if the situation continues to worsen.

We have now come to a critical stage, and all parties must work together to control the virus, or else all our previous efforts will go down the drain.