THE state of emergency helped the government manage the Covid-19 epidemic, Noor Azmi Ghazali said.

“Using the emergency ordinances, the government was able to mobilise medical personnel to states most affected by the surge in cases.  

“The emergency also allowed the government to appoint private medical practitioners as medical officers to assist the Health Ministry (MOH) in monitoring and quarantine issues,” the deputy health minister told Dewan Rakyat during his winding-up speech on the cancellation of the emergency ordinances today. 

The Bagan Serai MP said the emergency also allowed the government to outsource the treatment of patients to private hospitals and appoint local government officers to assist MOH. 

Noor Azmi said it was, therefore, wrong to say that the emergency had failed to curb the spread of the virus. 

“Had it not been for the Delta variant, the emergency would have reduced the cases faster,” he added. 

He said the emergency had already reduced the number of new infections to 1,000 around mid-March from 5,000 in January. 

“But the Delta variant caused the number of new cases to rise to 8,290 on May 28 and then 24,599 on August 26,” said Noor Azmi.

“As such, the government has decided to curb all mass gatherings during the Malacca elections next month.” 

He said the government wants to prevent another Covid surge, citing the Sabah polls as an example. 

Noor Azmi, however, failed to explain why the restrictions were necessary given that Malaysia has already vaccinated more than 90% of its population. 

The deputy minister also declined to assure the opposition equal access to government-controlled media outlets such as free-to-air television and radio networks. 

In addition to that, Noor Azmi also declined to assure Parliament that the government will not use government functions to campaign during the Malacca elections. 

On Sunday, Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin said that any activities, rallies or social gatherings related to the Malacca polls would be prohibited. – October 25, 2021.