Who would have known back in March 2020 that our life will be like this? What we thought to be a two-week thing is now looking like a MINIMUM two-year thing and frankly speaking, we feel hopeless, exhausted and aimless.
Situation in Brunei
According to the latest report released by Brunei’s Ministry of Health yesterday (14 July), it has been 434 days since they had a locally transmitted case (6 May 2020). As of now, they have 21 active cases, all of which are imported cases. Since March 2020, the total number of cases recorded in the country up until now is 282 cases and 3 deaths.
According to Borneo Bulletin, it is said that Brunei has taken a strict approach towards the pandemic which has caused their success in battling it. They imposed a mass gathering ban while using a technology-based contact tracing method along with very strict quarantines measures.
It is through their approach and the citizens’ adherence to rules that they are able to get to where they are right now. They were able to lift up the restrictions in place following a phase-by-phase basis and the lives of citizens are already said to be ‘close to normalcy’ as businesses are open and there is a relaxation on the mass gathering rule.
However, one cannot be too careful and Brunei is still maintaining a very strict border control policy attached with testing and quarantine for travellers whose visits need to be approved by the government.
Meanwhile in Malaysia…
On the other hand, in our country, we are plagued by news of a new high or a record-breaking number of cases every day to the point that some of us are not even that surprised anymore.
It has been three days since we started recording five-digit cases with 11,079 cases (13 July), 11,618 cases (14 July) and 13,215 cases (15 July). The numbers might only be the beginning as Health DG Dr Noor Hisham said that the number of cases is expected to increase in the following week before it stabilises. He also attributed the increase in the number of cases to increased testing in EMCO areas such as Selangor, Kuala Lumpur and Negeri Sembilan and also to the Delta variant which is said to be airborne and highly transmissible.
Dr Noor Hisham mentioned that the key to reducing the number of hospitalisations is by vaccination, reported Berita Harian.
“Regarding the new variant, the vaccine that we have now are effective against hospitalisation. Fully vaccinated people can be infected but it reduces the infectivity towards the others by 50%.”
“The rakyat will need to get the vaccine to reduce the number of hospitalisations and then we can live with the virus; the key to success is vaccination.”
It has been over a year ever since the day Malaysia recorded zero local cases and we long for that day again where we do not need to feel anxious about going out. If we ever reach that reality again, we genuinely hope that past mistakes will not be repeated as the rakyat are the ones who are now bearing the cost.
Also read: PM Suggests Relaxing Restrictions Such As Travelling & Dining-In For Fully Vaccinated Individuals
