On March 11 last year, the World Health Organisation (WHO) categorised the Covid-19 as a pandemic. Days later (on March 18 last year), there was the nationwide enforcement of the movement control order (MCO) to curb the spread of the coronavirus.
It has been a year since the historic events took place. During that period, Penang had recorded a remarkable green zone status for 91 days. The status was removed on Aug 7 last year following a positive Covid-19 case which was detected then.
Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow said the pandemic had challenged the country’s public healthcare system.
“The impact was so huge and not many people had the experience of handling the crisis. The state was also not spared from the shock.
“The Health Ministry became the backbone of public health initiatives to combat Covid-19. And it took almost all Government machineries to fight this pandemic.
“We have heard about the ‘whole-of-government’ and whole-of-society’ approach. It is true that we need the cooperation from the society to win this war against Covid-19. Efforts from the Government alone would not be enough,” he told Buletin Mutiara.
Chow said the relationship between the state and Federal machineries was very close, in the fight against the pandemic.
“We learned together, we made mistakes, we corrected the mistakes, we encouraged one another, we gave advices, we tried new ideas and so on. Everyone came together and worked towards flattening the infection curve.
“Throughout the one-year period, the citizens also played crucial roles such as following the standard operating procedures (SOPs) and stepping forward to offer their help.
“Corporate companies and non-governmental organisations came forward to contribute essential items such as personal protective equipment (PPE), facemasks, and hand sanitisers to frontliners.
“The Penang government allocated RM175.5 million in total, to help ease the financial burden of the vulnerable communities.
“Those were some of the memorable happenings in Penang. The events demonstrated close cooperation between us,” Chow added.
Strike the right balance between saving lives and livelihoods
The Covid-19 pandemic has caused immense loss of human life worldwide. The economic and social disruption was huge.
In Penang, Chow said it was not an easy task to manage the human resources and the assets to tackle the pandemic.
“It is always a challenge to strike a balance between saving lives and livelihoods.
“For example, when the Federal Government loosen the restriction, it increased the risk of infection in the community.
“When the new cases went up, the Government imposed movement restriction and the number of new cases reported daily, dropped.
“And if public health is compromised, the economic health will also be compromised,” he explained.
Are we still in the ‘marathon’ race against the deadly virus?
Chow said that in any marathon race, there is a finishing line.
“However, we do not have a crystal ball to find out the ending of this pandemic.
“Nevertheless, the Covid-19 vaccines give the world hope. Malaysia has started the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme and it is very important for us to obtain herd immunity against the coronavirus.
“We need the world to heal from this pandemic and it begins with the people,” he said.
Story by Christopher Tan
Pix by Alissala Thian
Video by Noor Siti Nabilah Noorazis
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