Published by Malay Mail, image from Malay Mail.
Knowing that the Covid-19 pandemic is a new life experience for people across the globe because of its severity, ongoing public health measures have been pursued by governments to combat the spread of the virus.
In the absence of widespread testing including Malaysia, the centerpiece of the public health response to Covid-19 has been social distancing.
Defined by the World Health Organisation (WHO), social distancing means that you have to maintain at least one metre distance between yourself and anyone who has illnesses such as cough or flu.
It is one of the basic protective measures, suggested by the WHO, in controlling the spread of our invisible enemy. It is complemented with such reason that when someone coughs or sneezes, spraying liquid droplets from their mouth or nose, they may contain virus. If you stay too close to the ill person, you could breathe in the droplets that could be Covid-19 virus.
In particular, this measure is vital for those who are symptomatic and have been exposed to the people who have been suspected or confirmed to be infected by Covid-19, and vulnerable.
The need for effective measures in the short term is very critical given that the game changer — vaccine is still underway and will only be expected in 12-18 months.
To show how social distancing would make a big difference, we go back to the last deadliest pandemic in history, which is known as Spanish Flu in 1918 that killed between 40 to 50 million people worldwide.
In the same year when the World War I took place, US cities hosted Liberty Loan Parade to promote government bonds being issued to pay for the war inthe midst of the pandemic.
However, St Louis decided to cancel while Philadelphia proceeded. As a result, Philadelphia became one of the hardest-hit cities with over 10,000 people dying from not committing to the social distancing rules.
On the other hand, the death toll in St Louis did not increase above 700, due to strict social distancing measures. Nonetheless, the city faced a sharp rise in number of deaths when restrictions were temporarily relaxed afterwards.
In 1918, studies have shown that the key to flattening the curve was social distancing as obtaining vaccines was hard at that time. As the saying goes, “prevention is better than cure.”
Thus, federal government’s move on April 10 to extend the movement control order (MCO) in order to curb the spike in daily cases was the right thing to do.
Looking to neighboring countries, it also seems like no one is getting too comfortable yet. Hong Kong and South Korea have extended its social-distancing restrictions until April 23 and April 19 respectively.
Although the collapse of the economy resulting from the MCO is the other concern of the public and government, several sectors have been given government’s approval to operate during the extended MCO.
To ensure the permission is not taken for granted, precautionary measures still have to be adhered by the companies with the establishment of standard operating procedures (SOP) by the Ministry of Health (MoH) as well as guidelines set by other agencies from time to time.
The government has also withdrawn its decision to allow barbers, hairdressing salons and optometrists to operate during the third phase of MCO following complaints from the public as well as ministries.
The WHO chief, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus recently spelled out six key considerations before movement restrictions could be safely eased:
- Transmission would have to be controlled;
- Sufficient public health services made available;
- Outbreak risks in care homes minimised;
- Preventative measures imposed in workplaces and schools;
- Importation of virus risks is managed; and
- Communities were made aware of and engaged in the transition.
While having to balance between resuming the economy before it gets worse and concerns of the virus spread, the requirements set by the international health body need to be taken seriously as a pathway to the exit strategy.
Based on Covid-19 Government Response Tracker established by the University of Oxford’s Blavatnik School of Government, Malaysia is ranked second among the key Asian economies and two developed economies namely the United Kingdom and the United States in terms of government’s strictness.
The strictness is scored based on the responsiveness to social distancing measures such as school closure, workplace closure, cancellation of public events, public transport closure, public info campaigns, restriction of internal movements, and travel controls. Higher index shows stricter measures.
Malaysia scored 85.71 on the tracker’s stringency index, on the same level as Thailand and Hong Kong. The United Kingdom scored lower at 71.43 while the United States’ score was 66.7. Above Malaysia is India and Vietnam with scores of 100.
Despite knowing that Malaysia is at a convenient place now, the index does not measure the effectiveness of policy responses, especially in the long term.
The outcomes would likely take time to be realised, thus, the need for efforts such as social distancing to be persistent.
Looking ahead, we are prone to ignore the lessons about how past pandemics end, like how it was overlooked previously. So, it is very crucial for everyone to learn about the consequences of past pandemics and how they were handled so that we become mindful of what is ahead.
When it comes to learning about the historical global disease outbreak, an epidemiologist from Columbia University, Stephen S. Morse said, “The lessons of 1918, if well heeded, might help us to avoid repeating the same history today.”
Nur Sofea Hasmira Azahar is Research Analyst at EMIR Research, an independent think tank focused on strategic policy recommendations based on rigorous research.
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