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Malaysia’s ‘Total Lockdown’ Failure Plunges Hospitals Into Crisis A COVID-19 surge is overwhelming many of Malaysia’s intensive care units, as rivalries among politicians allow a disaster to unfold.
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Michael Ejercito
Jul 13, 2021, 11:00:24 PM7/13/21
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http://thediplomat.com/2021/07/malaysias-total-lockdown-failure-plunges-hospitals-into-crisis/
Malaysia’s ‘Total Lockdown’ Failure Plunges Hospitals Into Crisis
A COVID-19 surge is overwhelming many of Malaysia’s intensive care
units, as rivalries among politicians allow a disaster to unfold.
Alifah Zainuddin
By Alifah Zainuddin
July 12, 2021
Malaysia’s ‘Total Lockdown’ Failure Plunges Hospitals Into Crisis
People wait to receive COVID-19 vaccines at MIECC Seri Kembangan, in
Selangor, Malaysia, July 6, 2021.
Credit: Depositphotos
When Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin announced a nationwide total
lockdown in May to battle a surge in COVID-19 infections, Malaysia’s
healthcare system was already in critical condition.
The country was struggling to contain a more recent outbreak of the
coronavirus driven by more contagious variants, and worsened by
gatherings ahead of Eid al-Fitr.
By the end of May, the country’s average daily cases per capita
surpassed that of India as new single-day infections breached the 9,000
mark. Daily deaths had also peaked at 98 cases on May 29, with health
chief Dr. Noor Hisham Abdullah calling it a “dark moment” for the nation.
Hospitals across the country, particularly in the Klang Valley, were
running close to capacity as the influx of patient arrivals triggered a
shortage of intensive care unit (ICU) beds and staff to provide adequate
care for patients.
Healthcare workers in Kuala Lumpur had to turn patients away, given that
COVID-19 care takes priority, while in the northern state of Kedah,
doctors were left to decide who gets a chance to live due to the state’s
limited number of ICU beds.
Enjoying this article? Click here to subscribe for full access. Just $5
a month.
Health officials resorted to unconventional measures to cope with the
surge in COVID-19 cases and death, which included the deployment of
military-built field ICUs and the utilization of shipping containers as
makeshift morgues. Soon after, the nation went into “total lockdown.”
The first 14 days of the full lockdown brought new infections down to as
low as 4,900 amid reduced testing in most states. As testing for the
virus continued to drop in the weeks after, reports of new cases also
decreased, albeit at a slower rate.
DIPLOMAT BRIEF
WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
N
Get briefed on the story of the week, and developing stories to watch
across the Asia-Pacific.
GET THE NEWSLETTER
At this point, health experts warned of a rise in COVID-19 hospital
admissions involving younger adults who were brought in critically ill
with the disease.
Dr. Benedict Sim Lim Heng, an infectious disease consultant at Sungai
Buloh Hospital – the country’s primary hospital for COVID-19 – said the
majority of patients who required critical care were now aged between 40
and 60, with a significant number in their 20s and 30s.
“We are seeing young patients being brought in at the most advanced
stage of the disease, people in their 30s and 40s being brought in and
put on life support machines,” Sim said. “The situation has actually
turned scarier. It is quite dire at times.”
As it turns out, the country’s COVID-19 situation was not getting any
better and the misleading toll of confirmed cases had shifted the
attention away from a rapidly evolving public health crisis.
In recent weeks, pictures and videos of overwhelmed hospitals in the
Klang Valley have been shared online. One video showed at least a dozen
patients on metal row chairs sharing oxygen supplies at the emergency
department of Tuanku Ampuan Rahimah Hospital in Klang. Another showed
bodies of COVID-19 victims being placed in a holding room as morgues
overflowed.
Several hospitals have converted their parking lots into emergency units
to accommodate more patients, stretching exhausted medical workers thin.
Many healthcare workers are suffering from compassion fatigue due to the
prolonged stress of dealing with COVID-19. Others who are reeling from
burnout and exasperated by the lack of top-level support are calling it
quits.
On July 10, Malaysia set a new record for the second consecutive day
with 9,353 COVID-19 infections. Its total of more than 830,000 confirmed
cases is the highest per million people in Southeast Asia – at least
twice the caseload per capita in Indonesia – though lack of testing
means that the number is vastly below the real toll.
By official count, over 6,100 people have now died from the coronavirus
in Malaysia, of which 55 percent reported during the current “total
lockdown” period. To put it simply, about 85 people with the coronavirus
have died per day on average since the lockdown began on June 1.
Enjoying this article? Click here to subscribe for full access. Just $5
a month.
The brutal toll of the virus inside hospital ICUs, as told through
stories and images shared anonymously by desperate frontline workers,
show the extent of the havoc being wreaked in the country. Many are
blaming the near collapse of the healthcare system on the government’s
“half-baked” lockdown measures, which have only exacerbated infections.
The government’s decision to allow 18 manufacturing sectors to operate
mainly at 60 percent capacity created favorable conditions for virus
outbreaks at factories and workers’ dormitories. Workplace clusters have
emerged as a key source of COVID-19 infection in Malaysia, with the bulk
of the clusters identified linked to the industrial sector.
Insufficient testing has also resulted in early infections going
undetected, especially among young adults, until they rapidly
deteriorate. Public health experts and health advocates have long
stressed the need for large-scale testing to run hand in hand with
restriction orders.
Over the course of the lockdown period, the national positive rate
(share of tests that returned positive for COVID-19) has remained above
the World Health Organization (WHO)’s maximum 5 percent benchmark. This
indicates that Malaysia is not testing enough people to contain the
outbreak.
Opposition coalition Pakatan Harapan’s health committee recently
declared the lockdown a complete failure, with movement restrictions
unlikely to contain a fourth COVID-19 wave.
Foreign trade chambers have also voiced concerns about how the pandemic
is being managed in Malaysia, while an army general said the country’s
COVID-19 response lacked coordination and speed.
Many say the government has had misplaced priorities. As cases soared,
Muhyiddin announced shifts in cabinet positions in a bid to ease
tensions in the ruling coalition, ahead of the United Malays National
Organization (UMNO)’s decision to withdraw support from his Perikatan
Nasional (PN) coalition last week.
In the shift, Defense Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob, UMNO’s most senior
figure in cabinet, was made deputy prime minister. Foreign Minister
Hishammuddin Hussein, another UMNO stalwart, has been promoted as Senior
Minister for Foreign Affairs and will take over Ismail’s role as chief
security officer.
The two UMNO lawmakers are part of a faction within the party that is
more aligned towards Muhyiddin’s government. Another faction, headed by
UMNO president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, has resolved to break away from the
PN coalition and is reportedly teaming up with Anwar Ibrahim’s Pakatan
Harapan coalition to form a new government.
The country’s Attorney General Idris Harun has maintained that there are
no “clear facts” that the premier has lost his majority. This means that
Muhyiddin’s leadership still stands until it is proven otherwise in
parliament, which will sit from July 26 for five days.
As COVID-19 continues to rage in Malaysia, anger towards the government
is growing. For most Malaysians, whether Muhyiddin can survive this
crisis after 15 months in power is less urgent than whether they can. As
politicians bicker, Malaysians are left to fend for themselves.
--
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https://www.avg.com
Malaysia’s ‘Total Lockdown’ Failure Plunges Hospitals Into Crisis
A COVID-19 surge is overwhelming many of Malaysia’s intensive care
units, as rivalries among politicians allow a disaster to unfold.
Alifah Zainuddin
By Alifah Zainuddin
July 12, 2021
Malaysia’s ‘Total Lockdown’ Failure Plunges Hospitals Into Crisis
People wait to receive COVID-19 vaccines at MIECC Seri Kembangan, in
Selangor, Malaysia, July 6, 2021.
Credit: Depositphotos
When Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin announced a nationwide total
lockdown in May to battle a surge in COVID-19 infections, Malaysia’s
healthcare system was already in critical condition.
The country was struggling to contain a more recent outbreak of the
coronavirus driven by more contagious variants, and worsened by
gatherings ahead of Eid al-Fitr.
By the end of May, the country’s average daily cases per capita
surpassed that of India as new single-day infections breached the 9,000
mark. Daily deaths had also peaked at 98 cases on May 29, with health
chief Dr. Noor Hisham Abdullah calling it a “dark moment” for the nation.
Hospitals across the country, particularly in the Klang Valley, were
running close to capacity as the influx of patient arrivals triggered a
shortage of intensive care unit (ICU) beds and staff to provide adequate
care for patients.
Healthcare workers in Kuala Lumpur had to turn patients away, given that
COVID-19 care takes priority, while in the northern state of Kedah,
doctors were left to decide who gets a chance to live due to the state’s
limited number of ICU beds.
Enjoying this article? Click here to subscribe for full access. Just $5
a month.
Health officials resorted to unconventional measures to cope with the
surge in COVID-19 cases and death, which included the deployment of
military-built field ICUs and the utilization of shipping containers as
makeshift morgues. Soon after, the nation went into “total lockdown.”
The first 14 days of the full lockdown brought new infections down to as
low as 4,900 amid reduced testing in most states. As testing for the
virus continued to drop in the weeks after, reports of new cases also
decreased, albeit at a slower rate.
DIPLOMAT BRIEF
WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
N
Get briefed on the story of the week, and developing stories to watch
across the Asia-Pacific.
GET THE NEWSLETTER
At this point, health experts warned of a rise in COVID-19 hospital
admissions involving younger adults who were brought in critically ill
with the disease.
Dr. Benedict Sim Lim Heng, an infectious disease consultant at Sungai
Buloh Hospital – the country’s primary hospital for COVID-19 – said the
majority of patients who required critical care were now aged between 40
and 60, with a significant number in their 20s and 30s.
“We are seeing young patients being brought in at the most advanced
stage of the disease, people in their 30s and 40s being brought in and
put on life support machines,” Sim said. “The situation has actually
turned scarier. It is quite dire at times.”
As it turns out, the country’s COVID-19 situation was not getting any
better and the misleading toll of confirmed cases had shifted the
attention away from a rapidly evolving public health crisis.
In recent weeks, pictures and videos of overwhelmed hospitals in the
Klang Valley have been shared online. One video showed at least a dozen
patients on metal row chairs sharing oxygen supplies at the emergency
department of Tuanku Ampuan Rahimah Hospital in Klang. Another showed
bodies of COVID-19 victims being placed in a holding room as morgues
overflowed.
Several hospitals have converted their parking lots into emergency units
to accommodate more patients, stretching exhausted medical workers thin.
Many healthcare workers are suffering from compassion fatigue due to the
prolonged stress of dealing with COVID-19. Others who are reeling from
burnout and exasperated by the lack of top-level support are calling it
quits.
On July 10, Malaysia set a new record for the second consecutive day
with 9,353 COVID-19 infections. Its total of more than 830,000 confirmed
cases is the highest per million people in Southeast Asia – at least
twice the caseload per capita in Indonesia – though lack of testing
means that the number is vastly below the real toll.
By official count, over 6,100 people have now died from the coronavirus
in Malaysia, of which 55 percent reported during the current “total
lockdown” period. To put it simply, about 85 people with the coronavirus
have died per day on average since the lockdown began on June 1.
Enjoying this article? Click here to subscribe for full access. Just $5
a month.
The brutal toll of the virus inside hospital ICUs, as told through
stories and images shared anonymously by desperate frontline workers,
show the extent of the havoc being wreaked in the country. Many are
blaming the near collapse of the healthcare system on the government’s
“half-baked” lockdown measures, which have only exacerbated infections.
The government’s decision to allow 18 manufacturing sectors to operate
mainly at 60 percent capacity created favorable conditions for virus
outbreaks at factories and workers’ dormitories. Workplace clusters have
emerged as a key source of COVID-19 infection in Malaysia, with the bulk
of the clusters identified linked to the industrial sector.
Insufficient testing has also resulted in early infections going
undetected, especially among young adults, until they rapidly
deteriorate. Public health experts and health advocates have long
stressed the need for large-scale testing to run hand in hand with
restriction orders.
Over the course of the lockdown period, the national positive rate
(share of tests that returned positive for COVID-19) has remained above
the World Health Organization (WHO)’s maximum 5 percent benchmark. This
indicates that Malaysia is not testing enough people to contain the
outbreak.
Opposition coalition Pakatan Harapan’s health committee recently
declared the lockdown a complete failure, with movement restrictions
unlikely to contain a fourth COVID-19 wave.
Foreign trade chambers have also voiced concerns about how the pandemic
is being managed in Malaysia, while an army general said the country’s
COVID-19 response lacked coordination and speed.
Many say the government has had misplaced priorities. As cases soared,
Muhyiddin announced shifts in cabinet positions in a bid to ease
tensions in the ruling coalition, ahead of the United Malays National
Organization (UMNO)’s decision to withdraw support from his Perikatan
Nasional (PN) coalition last week.
In the shift, Defense Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob, UMNO’s most senior
figure in cabinet, was made deputy prime minister. Foreign Minister
Hishammuddin Hussein, another UMNO stalwart, has been promoted as Senior
Minister for Foreign Affairs and will take over Ismail’s role as chief
security officer.
The two UMNO lawmakers are part of a faction within the party that is
more aligned towards Muhyiddin’s government. Another faction, headed by
UMNO president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi, has resolved to break away from the
PN coalition and is reportedly teaming up with Anwar Ibrahim’s Pakatan
Harapan coalition to form a new government.
The country’s Attorney General Idris Harun has maintained that there are
no “clear facts” that the premier has lost his majority. This means that
Muhyiddin’s leadership still stands until it is proven otherwise in
parliament, which will sit from July 26 for five days.
As COVID-19 continues to rage in Malaysia, anger towards the government
is growing. For most Malaysians, whether Muhyiddin can survive this
crisis after 15 months in power is less urgent than whether they can. As
politicians bicker, Malaysians are left to fend for themselves.
--
This email has been checked for viruses by AVG.
https://www.avg.com
HeartDoc Andrew
Jul 14, 2021, 12:48:47 AM7/14/21
to
Asia & elsewhere is by rapidly ( http://bit.ly/RapidTestCOVID-19 )
finding out at any given moment, including even while on-line, who
among us are unwittingly contagious (i.e pre-symptomatic or
asymptomatic) in order to http://bit.ly/convince_it_forward (John
15:12) for them to call their doctor and self-quarantine per their
doctor in hopes of stopping this pandemic. Thus, we're hoping for the
best while preparing for the worse-case scenario of the Alpha lineage
mutations and others like the Gamma, Beta, Epsilon, Iota, & Delta
lineage mutations combining to form hybrids that render current COVID
vaccines no longer effective.
Indeed, I am wonderfully hungry ( http://bit.ly/RapidTestCOVID-19 )
and hope you, Michael, also have a healthy appetite too.
So how are you ?
...because we mindfully choose to openly care with our heart,
HeartDoc Andrew <><
--
Andrew B. Chung, MD/PhD
Cardiologist with an http://bit.ly/EternalMedicalLicense
2016 & upwards non-partisan candidate for U.S. President:
http://bit.ly/WonderfullyHungryPresident
and author of the 2PD-OMER Approach:
http://bit.ly/HeartDocAndrewCare
which is the only **healthy** cure for the U.S. healthcare crisis
Michael Ejercito
Jul 14, 2021, 10:26:14 AM7/14/21
to
Michael
HeartDoc Andrew
Jul 14, 2021, 11:30:18 AM7/14/21
to
MichaelE wrote:
> I am wonderfully hungry!
While wonderfully hungry in the Holy Spirit, Who causes (Deuteronomy
8:3) us to hunger, I note that you, Michael, not only don't have
COVID-19 but are rapture (Luke 17:37) ready and pray (2 Chronicles
7:14) that our Everlasting (Isaiah 9:6) Father in Heaven continues to
give us "much more" (Luke 11:13) Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23) so
that we'd have much more of His Help to always say/write that we're
"wonderfully hungry" in **all** ways including especially caring to
http://bit.ly/convince_it_forward (John 15:12 as shown by
http://bit.ly/RapidTestCOVID-19 ) with all glory (
http://bit.ly/Psalm117_ ) to GOD (aka HaShem, Elohim, Abba, DEO), in
the name (John 16:23) of LORD Jesus Christ of Nazareth. Amen.
Laus DEO !
Suggested further reading:
https://groups.google.com/g/sci.med.cardiology/c/5EWtT4CwCOg/m/QjNF57xRBAAJ
Shorter link:
http://bit.ly/StatCOVID-19Test
Be hungrier, which really is wonderfully healthier especially for
diabetics and other heart disease patients:
http://bit.ly/HeartDocAndrewToutsHunger (Luke 6:21a) with all glory to
GOD, Who causes us to hunger (Deuteronomy 8:3) when He blesses us
right now (Luke 6:21a) thereby removing the http://HeartMDPhD.com/VAT
from around the heart
...because we mindfully choose to openly care with our heart,
HeartDoc Andrew <><
While wonderfully hungry in the Holy Spirit, Who causes (Deuteronomy
8:3) us to hunger, I note that you, Michael, not only don't have
COVID-19 but are rapture (Luke 17:37) ready and pray (2 Chronicles
7:14) that our Everlasting (Isaiah 9:6) Father in Heaven continues to
give us "much more" (Luke 11:13) Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23) so
that we'd have much more of His Help to always say/write that we're
"wonderfully hungry" in **all** ways including especially caring to
http://bit.ly/convince_it_forward (John 15:12 as shown by
http://bit.ly/RapidTestCOVID-19 ) with all glory (
http://bit.ly/Psalm117_ ) to GOD (aka HaShem, Elohim, Abba, DEO), in
the name (John 16:23) of LORD Jesus Christ of Nazareth. Amen.
Laus DEO !
Suggested further reading:
https://groups.google.com/g/sci.med.cardiology/c/5EWtT4CwCOg/m/QjNF57xRBAAJ
Shorter link:
http://bit.ly/StatCOVID-19Test
Be hungrier, which really is wonderfully healthier especially for
diabetics and other heart disease patients:
http://bit.ly/HeartDocAndrewToutsHunger (Luke 6:21a) with all glory to
GOD, Who causes us to hunger (Deuteronomy 8:3) when He blesses us
right now (Luke 6:21a) thereby removing the http://HeartMDPhD.com/VAT
from around the heart
...because we mindfully choose to openly care with our heart,
HeartDoc Andrew <><
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