YOURSAY | Can you spot 'unseen hands' in the MP's Covid data claim?

YOURSAY | 'What qualifies Tiong to make unfounded accusations?'

MP claims 'unseen hands' tampered with Covid-19 data

Bogus Reformasi: Bintulu MP Tiong King Sing said: “It does not take a genius to know that data on deaths and confirmed cases are being manipulated by some unseen hands.”

I am inclined to believe in what Tiong said. The evidence? This is in my opinion based on circumstantial evidence.

When we read the details of daily confirmed and death cases, one notices that the percentage of confirmed cases that can be traced to the existing clusters is, as I understand, less than 10 percent or 20 percent.

It means more than 80 percent of the daily confirmed cases are not traceable.

These 80 percent or more daily cases I assume, either fall from heaven or from community clusters that are not detected/identified by the Health Ministry (due to our low level of testing?).

As they cannot simply fall from heaven, the other possibility is widespread community transmission.

Isn’t it science/World Health Organization’s (WHO) explanation that when the positive rate is more than 5 percent, it shows under-testing?

What happened to this WHO guidance/science when Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin and Health director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah did nothing for states with a positivity rate of more than 5 percent? What is their plan to ramp up testing? None!

With such widespread undetected community infections, it is very difficult to believe the ministry’s daily reported cases.

On the death cases, since we claim to be in a very comfortable position with low hospitalisation, why are there still brought-in-dead cases daily?

Doesn’t all this show some disconnection somewhere?

Mishmash37: Throughout the pandemic, the case numbers reported are consistent with my own lived experience. When the number goes up, we hear about more cases among the people we know – friends, relatives, colleagues and friends of friends.

The prevalence increases and the degree of separation among us become smaller. For that reason, the numbers seem credible. First-hand accounts from people working in hospitals concur.

On the other hand, China's reporting of case numbers leaves a lot to be desired; perhaps Tiong's 'unseen hands' are at work there. The math doesn't add up, the science doesn't make sense.

I'd like some clarification on specifically which aspect of China's pandemic management would Tiong like Malaysia to emulate? What is the "appropriate and effective portions of their strategy" if he is not referring to the lockdowns and their "zero-Covid" strategy?

I agree with Khairy that those are not feasible, given the state of our economy and the need to transition into the endemic mode of Covid management.

Recalling Tiong's rather daft comment that the Health DG is "afraid to die" for not going to Sabah amid a raging pandemic, I think it goes to show that the Health DG is sensible enough to know he can best serve the people by making calls and mobilising resources that frontliners need, rather than showing up for photo ops and distracting everyone in the middle of a disaster.

Doing real work, rather than focusing on the optics and hurling accusations at others, is commendable.

The way I see it, the medical community stands behind the Health DG and health minister's approach, so what qualifies Tiong to make unfounded accusations and vague recommendations?

Perhaps he thinks he can best serve his role as the PM's special envoy to China by licking China's boots and carrying their water.

Wonglo: I feel the pandemic in Malaysia is now under control. The economy has reverted to near normal. People are earning their livelihood as before.

If the numbers had been manipulated, our hospitals would have been overwhelmed. We don’t see this indication.

I don’t know what Tiong is shouting about. He is the so-called special envoy to China. He is asking the Health Ministry to emulate China. Is that what his job is all about? To adopt a zero-Covid strategy and in the process kill our economy and the livelihood of our people?

Traveloka Winning: Tiong asked our government to learn from China, which locks down multi-million population cities even when the daily cases are in single digits; a step akin to destroying a forest to save a tree.

The lockdown is so severe that you can't even go out to buy food and firefighters can’t enter areas that are on fire - are you sure that this is something we want to emulate?

Maybe Tiong will have a second opinion after the government locks down his business empire under the flimsiest excuse, like, his errand boy tested positive?

BlackPony3637: The MP is making blank statements without a shred of evidence. Blindly following China is not the cleverest move, Mr Genius.

Our country is not equipped with the capacity to do what China does. And many countries are starting to wonder if what China does will ever work. Time will tell.

In the meantime, playing politics by making sweeping statements is not clever. You have to rise above it. People these days are much smarter.

Karnak: It's actually a bunglingly funny situation. Tiong is part of the government as a special envoy to China, a notoriously opaque country, and has now been allegedly turned into a hatchet man for Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob’s government trying to take down probably the more successful arm of the administration. What a farce.

YellowCat1156: Frankly speaking, you can criticise. You may even have a point. But the burden of proof is on you.

And honestly, I very much doubt you would do any different from what is being done now. I seriously doubt you know more than what you're trying to portray.

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