SELANGOR continues to register the highest number of daily Covid-19 cases in the country. Eleven days ago, it topped the chart with 535 of out 1,739 cases. A week ago, it topped the daily tally with 748 of 2,847 cases.

Yesterday, with the surge in cases, Selangor remained the highest with 1,019 out of 3,142 cases. On so many days, months perhaps, it has been on the top of the daily chart, leaving myself, like other Malaysians, wondering what is going on there.

I remember reading an article where Menteri Besar Amirudin Shari blamed private clinics and hospitals for the late reporting of cases. His allegation was that the surge in cases was due to backlog of cases from the screening of factories, prisons, clinics and private hospitals that where not reported in real time.

His claim was that the backlog was over the past 10 days and his suggestion to overcome it was that state health department would fine private hospitals or clinics that did not report positive cases directly on the same day.

How “practical and realistic” his knee-jerk reactions could be. He should know better that heaping blame on others won’t solve any problem.

As it is, the number of cases in the state keeps soaring, even until today. If your own system is flawed, you should be gentleman enough to admit it, not blame others.

As MB and a lawmaker, instead of the blame game, he should have remained focused and resolute in fighting the pandemic in the state, together with the federal government’s relevant ministries and agencies.

He should be the role model in mobilising all efforts to fight Covid-19 in his state of administration, not pointing fingers. Selangor has been the “champion” of Covid-19 for as long as we can remember.

Look at other states like Sabah, which used to report highest number of cases. Now, its economy is slowly opening up and people are going back to work. 

The task force that the Selangor government has formed should work closely with the federal government to bring the pandemic under control.

Its head, Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad, should stop repeatedly alleging that the state authorities are blindsided without pandemic data from the federal authorities.

He should stop finger pointing but instead, tactfully and judiciously, work closely with the federal authorities to cut down virus transmissions in the state.

With Selangor continuing to occupy top spot for the highest number of cases in a single day, the state government should do what is only right for all its residents there.

We have succeeded once in containing the virus and we have not yet failed.

The upward trend of cases is quite predictable but we must never give up.

And since no one knows when the pandemic will end, we must come together as one in order to win this battle. – April 30, 2021.

*Hambali Latif reads The Malaysian Insight.

* This is the opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insight. Article may be edited for brevity and clarity.