PUTRAJAYA should focus on the percentage of the vaccinated population and the number of critical Covid-19 patients receiving treatment in healthcare facilities nationwide before deciding to reopen the economy, health experts and business associations said.

They said it is not enough for the government to just rely on the daily figures as there is no sign those will drop any time soon.

Business operators said it is time the government accepted the fact that Covid-19 is endemic and find a way to facilitate economic activities under this new climate.

Health experts, however, cautioned that reopening the economy before an equilibrium can be found between live and livelihood could prove fatal for the country’s economy and its already overburdened and overworked healthcare system.

Dr Kuljit Singh, a specialist in Prince Court Medical Centre, said ensuring a large number of the population is protected by the vaccine should be a priority as it will help bring down the number of Covid-19 patients who require treatment in intensive care units and prevent deaths.

He urged Putrajaya to wait till the vaccination exercise is fully covered before it decides to reopen the economy.

“We’ve seen the models overseas. When the people were fully vaccinated, the number of Covid-19 patients in ICUs and deaths came down,” Kuljit told The Malaysian Insight.

“The number of infected people may be high, because we also see those vaccinated still contracting the virus but they don’t end up requiring an ICU bed or dying.

“Even when it comes to the number of Covid-19 patients requiring treatment, we need to look at the type of patients being treated.

“If it’s mostly categories 1 and 2 patients, then it’s not much of a worry, provided they don’t fall into categories 3, 4 and 5. If you’re vaccinated, we find that those in categories 1 and 2 do not deteriorate into categories 3 to 5.

Category 1 patients are asymptomatic while category 5 patients are those being treated in the ICU requiring respiratory support.  

He added that treating critical Covid-19 patients has also taken an economic toll on the government as the costs would have run into millions.

He was commenting on the government’s announcement of the National Recovery Plan to steer the country out of the Covid-19 pandemic last month.

Under the plan, economic sectors will reopen in phases subject to three indicators, the number of daily Covid-19 cases, percentage of population that is fully vaccinated and the healthcare system must no longer be critical.

To transition to phase two, daily cases must be below 4,000 and 10% of the population must be fully vaccinated. For phase three, cases must be below 2,000 and 40% must be fully vaccinated and for phase four, cases must fall below 500.

Perlis, Perak, Kelantan, Pahang, Penang and Sarawak are the only states to have transitioned to phase two.

Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin announced that the government is expecting that most states will transition to the final phase of the plan as early as October.

Meanwhile, Universiti Putra Malaysia medical epidemiologist Assoc Prof Dr Malina Osman suggested that the government implement safety bubbles for the workplace and industries to help contain the spread of the virus.

“The issue with economic recovery is because the recommendation from public health for those in-charge to provide a safety bubble for those who wish to be at work settings has not been in place.

“As the Delta variant is widely circulated, it is highly recommended for those employees to get the vaccine before being allowed to be at work. Their families and close friends should be vaccinated together.

“If they are unable to do this, all those workers should stay in work settings. They can continue to work with their groups but are not allowed to mix with their families or community,” she said.

Learn to live with it

SME Association of Malaysia president Michael Kang said that it is time Malaysia embraced living with the virus and easing movement restrictions on those who have been fully inoculated.

“Those who have received two doses should be allowed to operate and move around. This is the first priority.

“Secondly is our health system. If it is not able to cater for the number of patients, then we will also have problems. We have to learn to live with it at this point, and not continue to implement lockdowns,” he said.

Kang also suggested the use of tracking devices to limit the movement of those who have tested positive as current methods were not effective.

“The government does not have a plan to control the number of infections so how can they use the indicators they had announced earlier?

“If they want to reopen the country based on the number of infections, they must step up monitoring using tracking devices and apps to restrict movements,” he said, adding that MySejahtera does not work.

He said if small and medium enterprises are not allowed to operate by the end of the year, about 60% will have to close down permanently.

Kang expects this figure to go up to 80% if the reopening is delayed until next year.

Chin Chee Seong, who is vice president of the SME Association, agrees with Kang, adding that the government should afford certain privileges to those who are fully vaccinated while restricting movements of those who have refused to sign up to be vaccinated.

“We should look at the areas and the sectors and allow those who have received both shots to move around more freely than those who have not been vaccinated.

“Those who refuse are the ones who will create trouble for the community,” he said.

Nationwide, 5.7 million people or 17.5% of the population have had two shots while 12.1 million others or 37.1% of the population have had one dose.

Meanwhile, 17,405 new Covid-19 cases were reported today, the second highest count since the onset of the pandemic last year. The national caseload stands at 1,044,071. – July 29, 2021.