Sarawak - Covid-19 Killing Field

                                               Sarawak - Covid-19 Killing Field

Introduction

The Covid.19 or SARS-COV.2 virus originated from Wuhan in China and became a major global news item in Dec 2019. 

In Malaysia the first case of COVID-19 was detected on the 25th Jan 2020. On the 4th Feb 2020 Malaysia reported it’s first local Malaysian infection. In March 2020 a Covid.19 pandemic was declared in Malaysia.

Globally, on 4th May 2021, there have been 153,187,889 confirmed cases of COVID-19, including 3,209,109 deaths, reported to WHO. On the same day, Malaysia reported a cumulative figure of  420,632 Covid.19 positive cases and 1574 cases of Covid.19 related deaths. 

There are now at least 30 variants or mutations of Covid.19 and some of the variants are said to be much more infectious than the Covid.19. The regimes of Covid.19 vaccines that is being used now were developed based on protein in the Covid.19 and while these vaccines can be used against the variants it is feared that it’s effectiveness is minimal.

The implications for herd immunity against these variants if the chain of transmission cannot be broken is hard to miss.

Sarawak’s Situation

Locally in Sarawak, the cumulative confirmed cases reached 32,667 and total fatalities was reported to be 188 (12% of the national total of 1574). As at the time of writing there is not a single green zone left in Sarawak.

Public hospitals in Sarawak were earlier reported to have hit full capacity for Covid.19 patients. It is not just Covid.19 ICU beds and intubators but there were also rumors that doctors were hard-pressed to treat patients with other sicknesses.

Yesterday (4th May 2021) Sarawak recorded 620 new positive cases and 4 fatalities. There is no sign that the pandemic is receding in Sarawak. There has been no report of vaccinations taking place any where in Sarawak yesterday and the day before and the assumption is that there is not vaccines left from the first batch received from the ministry of health (MOH).

Today Borneo Post reported that a field hospital, to operated from a community hall in Kapit will become operational on the 7th May 2021. For the uninitiated, a field hospital is usually needed only in areas of catastrophic disaster and war torn zones. A field hospital is the proverbial picture that paints a thousand words in this context.

The MOH’s minister Dr. Adham Baba was on the 3rd May 2021 reported to have said a total of 30 variants of the Covid.19 had been detected in Malaysia.

To a non-medical professional like me, the situation can be summarised in one word - CRITICAL

Covid.19 Pandemic Containment Measures in Sarawak

 The first movement control order (MCO) under the Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases Act 1988 and the Police Act 1967 was implemented on the 18th March 2020 and it lasted for 14 days. When the Emergency (Essential Powers) Ordinance 2021 (‘Ordinance’) was gazetted on the 14th Jan 2021, the measures that came with it were also implemented in Sarawak. In between there were the Enhancement Movement Control Orders (EMCOs) and the Conditional Movement Control Orders (CMCOs). The stated objective of these movement control orders was to break the chain of transmission of the virus. 

Screenings for Covid.19 positive Sarawakians were done, mostly in a very ad hoc, almost random manners. The vaccinations which started on the 26th Feb 2020 in Sarawak was the next in Sarawak’s measures to contain and eliminate the pandemic.

Up until August 2020, the movement control measures were largely effective. From 2766 in March 2020, the figures when down to just 364 in August 2020. It then spiked to 1884 in Sept 2020 and from there onwards it was downhill all the way, till the end of 2020.

How Did Sarawak Become A Covid.19 Killing Field - Sarawakians Part Of The Fault

Sarawakians are not without fault in the transmission of this virus. Among the first few positive cases and Covid.19 related death in Sarawak were cases that originated from the Sri Petaling Mosque (Tabligh gathering) cluster in Kuala Lumpur. What contributed to the downfall which started in Sept 2020 was a mixture of indiscipline and ignorance  - from failing to use face masks to poor personal hygiene, from prohibited gatherings like birthday parties to weddings, funerals to going out to public places when they were officially under quarantine.

How Did Sarawak Become A Covid.19 Killing Field - The Sarawak Government Part Of The Fault.

The MCO, CMCO, EMCO that were implemented failed because there were always exceptions made to the rule. Exemptions were common place, under the camouflage of workers in essential services, spousal visits, humanitarian grounds etc etc. These control orders were riddled with ‘jalan tikus’. Covid.19 positive people with symptoms and asymptomatic ones alike moved quite freely between zones or districts that have been color coded differently. In short, both the implementation and the enforcement fell short of the standards required to break the chain of transmission between zones and districts.

One such decision was the decision to reopen schools on the 2nd week of March 2021. The timing caused a much consternation among stake holders because school clusters were popping up in so many schools and most teachers were not yet vaccinated then.

The need to be different, to be unique compounded the problems of the leaky MCO’s fences. Since the 3rd May 2021 Sarawak had no green zone left but when the MOH & Majlis Keselamatan Negara (MKN) announced MCO.3, Sarawak was assigned the CMCO, a lesser form the MCO. Why? I am pretty sure it has to do with the coming Pilihan Raya Negeri and voters’ sentiment.

Screening for Covid.19 positive people, perhaps the most crucial link in the efforts to break the chain of transmission appeared to be the weakest part in the government’s initiatives in Sarawak. Wuhan city’s success in breaking the chain of transmission was to a very significant extent attributed to the mass or surge screenings done in the city. This in turn was made possible by a lockdown in the city, one day before the Chinese New Year 2020.

The Sarawak Disaster Management Committee had in the early days of the pandemic in Sarawak divided Sarawak into zones and district and color coded these zones according to the number of Covid.19 positive cases. The ground work for mass or surge screening and lock downs  was already there but mass or surge screenings were not done.

Why are mass or surge screenings important? In almost all of the SDMC’s daily report on Covid.19 in Sarawak, there is a mention of asymptomatic cases. These unseen and undetected Covid.19 positive people who do not display any outward symptoms are moving around freely and spreading the virus and are not stopped until they are caught in a ‘dragnet’. To add to the complexities caused by the failure to do mass screenings, reports are surfacing that the Covid.19 vaccines which are being rolled out today is not thought to be effective against the Covid.19 variants that are already spreading globally now. 

To my mind, untrained in things medical, these asymptomatic people must be detected as soon as humanely possible and isolated until healed, without exception. Failing to do so now may mean that herd immunity for Sarawak is still a hazy thing in a far away horizon.

We now come to the issue of vaccine and vaccination. The National Vaccination Programme laid out by the Ministry of Health and announced by PM Tan Sri Mahiaddin Yassin is very clear but it looks like Sarawak is not following the plan.

Sarawak has a population of roughly 2.8 million people. To achieve herd immunity, about 2.2 million Sarawakians will have to be fully vaccinated by 28th Feb 2022. The vaccination process in Sarawak thus far averages of 868 people per day. At this rate it will take 7 years from now before Sarawak achieves herd immunity, if the variants or mutants causes no additional problems to Sarawak.

The process of vaccination in Sarawak is hampered by many critical issues namely problems with registration, random requests for priority from groups that are not originally classified as front liners and insufficiency of vaccines in Sarawak.

It is noted that there has been no news reports of vaccinations taking place any where in Sarawak the last 2 days.

The latest in the issue vaccines is the unilateral decision made by the Sarawak government to disallow the use of the Astra Zeneca vaccine in Sarawak.

The some total of all the above is this: The GPS government of Sarawak, the SDMC and the PN federal have failed Sarawakians, completely. Only can only imagine for how long more can Sarawakians  cope with the hardships we are going through now.