SOUTH Korea and China have been more successful containing the Covid-19 pandemic than Europe or the United States because the two Asian countries have a more disciplined culture, said Dr Mahathir Mohamad.

“They have a different culture from Europe and the US. They are very disciplined and when the government gives instructions, the people follow,” said the former prime minister during a Facebook Live interview with Sunway Velocity Medical Centre’s Dr Nurul Yaqeen today.

Lockdown instructions appear to be less effective elsewhere as people felt it violated their “equal rights and freedoms”.

“In Europe, for instance, some of them felt that the pandemic only happens to poorer countries that do not have as good medical infrastructures compared to them.

“But poorer countries like China and South Korea, although they are no longer poor, were more successful, as when they locked down Wuhan for two months, their people followed.

“But in the US, they now have more than 500,000 infections and more than 26,000 deaths. 

“It’s not just that medical facilities are important but also the values and reactions to how to fight the pandemic,” said Dr Mahathir.

Although some initially criticised China for being too strict, their lockdown worked, he said.

“We generally don’t like it when the government restricts us as we value our freedom, but that is what makes us harder to control.

“When we overprioritise our freedoms, we have no discipline and there will be repercussions.”

He said the West is paying a high price for this freedom because Covid-19 is very infectious. 

On its own, the virus cannot infect easily but when there are mass gatherings, it is easy for the virus to transmit from one person to another, Dr Mahathir added.

“Take the tabligh gathering, for instance. There was hugging, kissing and touching and this enabled the virus to move from one person to another until 40% of the deaths so far are from that cluster,” he told Nurul, a respiratory and internal medicine consultant.

To date, Malaysia has reported 5,182 infections and 84 deaths. – April 17, 2020.