BINTULU, Jan 28: The Pakatan Harapan (PH) government is putting the lives of all Malaysians at risk by dragging its feet over the Wuhan virus outbreak, one of the most serious medical issues in recent times, alleges Bintulu MP Datuk Seri Tiong King Sing.
While the entire globe is on red alert in reaction to the Wuhan coronavirus (2019-nCoV) or Wuhan virus outbreak from China, Tiong argued Malaysians are seeing a cumbersome and slack response from PH, which is doing little to reassure or instil confidence that they can handle the outbreak.
“Despite several cases of the coronavirus confirmed, the PH government’s typical ponderous response is highly irresponsible and threatens to land our national health into a complete and deadly mess.
“Already it is beyond infuriating that the PH has allowed our borders to be so porous as to allow someone suspected of the coronavirus to get through unchecked. Such carelessness and negligence against the epidemic might turn into an unstoppable avalanche and then it will be too late.
“Even if the PH government institutes a travel ban on people entering from Wuhan and Hubei, it will not be sufficient as the coronavirus has already spread worldwide. Just announcing a travel ban measure from these places is too little too late,” Tiong stressed in a statement.
Expressing his disappointment over the way PH is handling the situation, Tiong noted that a Chinese national had been allowed to fly into Bintulu on Jan 15. The patient is now admitted to hospital for flu and fever symptoms.
He asserted that other countries have already activated rigorous and strict border controls for the coronavirus epidemic including China because it is already an international health emergency, but Malaysia is not taking the same measures to curb the outbreak.
He noted that not only are there hundreds of thousands China nationals working and living in Malaysia, but it is also the Chinese New Year season with high tourist traffic from China.
He acknowledged that many of them are already returning from their holidays to resume work in Malaysia and it is incomprehensible for the PH government to allegedly keep treating this epidemic lightly when people’s lives are at stake.
“The World Health Organisation had stated that currently no vaccine for the coronavirus exists to protect against this outbreak. Even that doesn’t seem to give PH leaders any sense of urgency to take extreme measures against this disease.
“While PH leaders are taking it lightly, people are dying in China. What are you waiting for before taking greater steps against the epidemic?” Tiong questioned. — DayakDaily
