Not a fan of Al-Jazeera. But this article pretty much sums up Malaysia's Covid-19 situtation:
I just have to rant about this.
Malaysia is the only country that I know of on this Earth where during extended strict lockdowns, Covid-19 cases exploded into disaster. Prior to the strict lockdowns, daily cases was around 2k per day. After 2 months of extreme lockdowns, cases are 20k per day. I don't think it's just because of more testing. Because if that was true, then 2 months of complete lockdown should start to 'flatten the curve'. Instead, hospitals and ICU beds in Malaysia are even more overwhelmed than ever.
Although I don't have evidence. I think the biggest reasons is that there is double standards on who is locked down and who is not. Big corporations are allowed to continue to operate with little supervision. Especially in manufacturing and construction. VIPs and politicians can move around and throw parties wherever they like. This is typical of corrupted governments. The same thing thay we see going on in India, US, UK, and some Western countries.
So now we have a double-whammy for the majority of Malaysians who are going through the lockdowns. One, a collapsing economy and expanding poverty. Two, more people getting sick and dying from Covid-19. This is happening even when Malaysia has some of the better vaccinations rates in Asia.
Malaysians are in a very dark dilemma. The lockdowns are killing people's livelihoods. But then, how could they re-open the country when Covid numbers and deaths are going through the roof?