KUALA LUMPUR, June 16 — A day after the government announced its National Recovery Plan, Opposition Leader Datuk Seri Anwar Ibrahim has raised the issue of data inconsistencies surrounding the actual Covid-19 situation in Malaysia and pressed for an overhaul of mitigation strategies.
The PKR president questioned the authenticity of government data surrounding an apparent drop in daily Covid-19 numbers, which he claimed failed to show the actual situation of the pandemic when compared against high Intensive Care Unit (ICU) bed usage and sporadic infections.
The Port Dickson MP asserted that a 45 per cent drop in daily case numbers reported since May 29 was followed by a similar 44 per cent drop in testing capacity.
Elementary mathematical calculations are enough to expose these inconsistencies, he added.
“If yesterday we ran a total of 100,000 tests, it is very likely the daily Covid-19 numbers would breach 7,000 cases. If 150,000 tests, the rate of our positive cases would reach 10,000 cases.
“It is very easy to deceive the public’s opinion on the severity of the pandemic within the country through selective and unbalanced data,” he wrote in a statement today.
“It is not impossible for these data to be manipulated to portray the virus spreading rapidly to justify the emergency measures,” he added.
Anwar said one proven method to establish accurate information using science and data underscored how accelerated testing would, in turn, allow quicker contact tracing, subsequent isolation and treatment.
He said even private health professionals have questioned the government’s apparent hesitance towards ramping up testing, saying a drop in positive rates from high testing numbers is the only true indicator of the pandemic’s severity.
“If we do not adhere to the latest science and data, which is the attitude of the Perikatan Nasional government, then the sacrifices of the rakyat during the length of the movement control order would have been in vain.
“This virus will continue to boulder through and claim many lives,” he wrote.
However, Anwar claimed political priorities and personal greed will continue to influence pandemic mitigation strategies.
“And this is the road to destruction because the effects are borne by the rakyat while the nation’s economy continues to collapse.
“There has to be a complete change in strategy to contain the pandemic.
“One way to exit the pandemic is to rely on scientific methods, data sharing, transparency and accountability,” he said.
Yesterday, Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin announced Malaysia’s four-phase National Recovery Plan which aims to guide the country in deciding if and when Covid-19 pandemic restrictions can be lifted in stages.
