Malaysia's coronavirus numbers are making us edgy. As it is, the country is seeing four digits for 3 days consecutively now.
And Selangor in particular continues to cause prickles of disquiet. Already, it has been bragging three digits for five days in a row.
Sure, it’s not as bad as the situation in Sabah but surely, we can do better than this!
On another note, Dr Siti Mariah Mahmud (right) complained on Wednesday that the Health Ministry do not share granular data on Covid-19 with Selangor.
The state executive councillor in charge of Selangor’s public health, unity, women and family development said this leaves the state in the lurch, forcing the state government to play a guessing game in curbing further infections.
The Ministry of Health had defended the move, saying they would only share processed data for better coordination.
This is hogwash. State governments need the raw data so they could do modelling and trace where the infection started, besides coming up with their own precautionary measures for the public. Different states have their own peculiarities and must be managed differently.
Controlling the spread of Covid-19 depends upon sustained cooperation across all levels of government, both federal and state. With data-sharing, we build community trust, which is necessary to beat the virus.
At times, I wish the Health Ministry Director-General (right) would not be so stuck up and standoffish.
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