LETTER | Poor Covid-19 SOP enforcement partly to blame

LETTER | We are unexpectedly experiencing another surge of the Covid-19 pandemic. The socio-economic sacrifice by all Malaysians during the movement control order (MCO) and the ongoing recovery MCO coupled with the present curtailment of restrictions are being undone by some irresponsible segments of society.

Presently the active source of this pandemic general resurgence has its roots from the Sabah state election resulting in having daily numbers that were not seen before. The hunger for political power by certain parties have let all of us down as the authorities struggle to get a renewed grip on the pandemic. 

The relevant enforcement agencies must take a major part of this blame for not applying or delaying action on the standard operating procedure (SOP) in social distancing, wearing masks and quarantines without fear or favour to all parties regardless of who they may be.

There is a serious imbalance of the way enforcement is being carried out now. One of the main reasons is due to the fact that politicians are making calls on the mode and manner enforcement is being carried out. The executive should not head enforcement task forces as they are neither trained nor have the relevant powers to do so apart from the fact that they have a political base that they aim to please! 

You cannot have different SOPs for the elite and another for the ordinary man on the street! Obviously, the political gatherings, rallies, campaigns, et cetera have triggered a bigger effect on the way this virus has spread. 

The authorities should have come down hard on all these segments of society. Simply picking targets of possible areas where the virus can spread is insufficient to stem the problem, especially when statistics of the Covid-19 clusters are not made transparent. A bigger problem is when there is hardly a link or a minimum one between these targeted segments and the Covid-19 clusters detected!

Professional enforcement in tandem with clear statistics of those infected complemented with the clusters prevalent must become the order of the day. The number of cases, location, time, knowledge in the science of the problem, et cetera must go hand in glove with the mode, manner and frequency of enforcement. 

This will ensure that we are targeting the right group of people with the highest potential to spread the virus. We must get the finger on the pulse of the problem without playing to the gallery. It must strictly hinge on science and statistics.

It is imperative that the police must helm the task force in the war against this virus without much involvement and interference from the executive. Immediate responses from the public or media during press conferences can then be relayed directly to the ground thus getting society on board in the overall war against this pandemic. 

This can be difficult as the fusion of powers between the executive and civil servants have become too compact in recent times. The SOP on Covid-19 quarantine measures cannot be compromised at all if we are to survive, manage and weather this Covid-19 pandemic in the days ahead.

The views expressed here are those of the author/contributor and do not necessarily represent the views of Malaysiakini.