We need to learn from Covid-19 surge in India, says Dr Adeeba

PETALING JAYA: Infectious diseases expert Dr Adeeba Kamarulzaman said there were lessons Malaysia could learn from the unfolding Covid-19 crisis in India, namely steps to take to manage the pandemic.

Adeeba, who was recently inducted into the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Science Council, said this was especially so in view of the recent surge of Covid-19 cases in Malaysia with the number of daily cases exceeding 2,000 for the past seven days.

In a tweet tonight, she added that among the steps that need to be taken included mandatory wearing of masks and a ban on all mass gatherings as well as a rapid vaccine rollout.

She cited an opinion piece in the New York Times on the same steps that India needed to implement.

The professor of medicine and infectious diseases at Universiti Malaya also felt there was a need for consistent messaging and a science-led approach by the government.

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Quoting a paragraph from the NYT opinion piece, she said: “Without all this, India risks giving back the hard-won gains made through the nationwide lockdown a year ago.”

“Sounds familiar?” Adeeba said.

On Sunday and Monday, India reported over 270,000 and 259,000 Covid-19 cases respectively. It was a massive surge from about 11,000 cases daily less than two months ago.

Last year health director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah was reported to have said that the movement control order (MCO) was successful in flattening the curve.

Earlier today, the health ministry reported 2,340 Covid-19 cases in the past 24 hours. Yesterday 2,341 infections were reported.

Meanwhile, health experts told FMT that Malaysia is seeing its fourth wave of Covid-19 infections.