THE first edition of the third movement-control order (MCO 3.0) concludes today. It has now been extended for another two weeks until June 28, ostensibly because Covid-19 numbers have not dropped below 5,000 new cases a day.

Now comes the question “Is it judicious to just keep extending the MCOs or total lockdowns when a lot of things can and should be done differently for a better outcome?!”

In the last couple of weeks, I’ve found I’ve begun to irritate myself, and that cannot be a good sign. I sound like a broken record stuck on a two-word sad song sung in D major. But ironically, I am not the one breaking Covid-19 records in Malaysia.

The first thirteen days of June 2021 saw a total of 1,112 Covid 19 deaths when, in the whole of 2020, Malaysia lost only 471 patients.

We took one whole year to lose our first 500 patients at a mortality rate of 0.42% but we took just 6 days (Yes! SIX DAYS!) to lose our 7th batch of 500 patients at a mortality rate of 1.34%.

We have consistently had 900 patients or more in the ICU this past week with at least half of them needing some kind of mechanical respiratory assistance.

And, most worryingly, on June 11 almost one in five, or 20%, of those who succumbed were dead on arrival. Felled from behind by an enemy they could not see. They had absolutely no clue what hit them. And there was absolutely no chance for the tireless front liners to try saving them.

These are records that should break every Malaysian heart as they are permanent testimonials to our collective less-than-stellar response to a battle that we fought so well, at least up to September 2020.

There are many words for doing the same thing over and over again but expecting different results every time. And believe me, none of them are complimentary. It does not matter if the quote originated from Albert Einstein, Mark Twain or Rita Mae Brown, but science has proven the quote to be true every single time. In our own national battle against this virus, two words stare at you in the face about where we could have done things a lot differently. Priority and Urgency.

Visit any hospital that has cutting edge technology to treat heart attacks and you will get a sense of the true meaning and importance of these two words. Visit any good trauma centre and see how they prioritise and urgently treat a patient with poly-trauma.

Why go that far? See the relief on the face of a patient with acute urinary retention after prompt bladder catheterisation! For that relief, however, you need to drain the bladder fully. Half-hearted measures draining only a couple of hundred millilitres every time is a total waste of effort. So indeed, are teasing reassurances that you will repeat the procedure every two weeks!

I must apologise for having said, on more than one occasion, that in the battle of lives vs livelihoods, life always wins. I have since, without reservation, realised that with these multiple MCO extensions, you do need a livelihood to continue staying alive.

According to a Bernama article dated June 3, a total of 128,150 companies, with a workforce of 1.57 million workers, were given permission to operate during MCO 3.0! To a lay person, this is an absolute abuse or total misinterpretation of the word ‘essential’.

Has this freely mobile workforce been vaccinated with even the first dose? You don’t need to be a scientist, but just common sense will tell you that here is a group of potential super spreaders. And I believe, a tiny fraction can essentially carry the virus in a popular brand of luxury handbags! At least you cannot fault us for being classy.

When science and world-renowned scientists keep repeating the fact that spraying disinfectants on surfaces such as roads have absolutely no value in containing this virus, why is this exercise still carried out?

Even if, as reported, only less than RM 1 million was spent on it, could that million have not been used for more valuable things like ensuring PPEs for the front liners? A time will certainly come, if it has not already, when every ringgit spent will be much more precious than the previous one.

The process of vaccination has indeed taken important strides for the better. But a fortnight shy of four months since our programme began and two weeks into MCO 3.0, only 10 % of Malaysians have received at least one dose and only 4% of our population fully vaccinated. Compare this to the approximately 45% each in the United States and the United Kingdom and you begin to see how far behind we still are!

There are reports of vaccine shortages and delayed supplies. That vast network of general practitioners has not yet been fully integrated into the national programme. The private sector has still not been allowed to purchase the vaccines and even the donation of vaccines has had its own issues! I sincerely hope and pray that herd immunity by the end of the year is not just a utopian ideology.

Coming back to heart attacks, coronary angioplasty or coronary bypass surgery is just one part of the armamentarium in treating coronary artery disease. They are useless without lifestyle modifications, the cessation of smoking, regular exercise and strict adherence to appropriate medication.

Similarly, a total lockdown or MCO is not a panacea for all our Covid-19 ills. Both the number of new cases and our mortality will not drop by just extending the MCO and not paying essential attention to the multitude of other important factors.

Though there have been a lot of tears in the past 18 months, this pandemic is not a romantic tragedy out of a Mills and Boon novel. Time alone will never heal this heartache. In fact, time is so precious.

It is Euro 2020 season and already there is so much chatter out there regarding goal posts and shifting them! On Saturday, there was an extremely unfortunate cardiac arrest on the playing field. A very alert team captain and prompt and heroic medical attention saved the day.

If Novak Djokovic can come from two sets down to win an exhausting French Open against a much younger opponent, exasperated Malaysians may still be able to win the Covid-19 war. We just have to keep our eyes on the ball. – June 14, 2021.

*Dr Venugopal Balchand reads The Malaysian Insight.