In Dec 2019, the first Coronavirus patient was confirmed in Wuhan, China.
On 25 Jan 2020, the 2019-20 coronavirus pandemic was confirmed to spread to Malaysia.
On 4 Feb 2020, Malaysia has its first local transmission of coronavirus
On 27 Feb to 1 March 2020, 16,000 people attended a four-day ritual event in Sri Petaling Mosque, of which 14,500 people were Malaysians.
On 11 March 2020, 1 Bruneian attended the ritual was tested positive for Covid-19 and that raised Malaysia’s attention to the ritual spread of Coronavirus from the ritual event in Sri Petaling.
On 12 March 2020, the Sri Petaling mosque was closed for disinfection.
On 14 March 2020, 40 people from the ritual have been tested positive for Covid-19.
On 15 March 2020, it was the highest number of cases reported at 150 people infected with Coronavirus in Malaysia.
On 16 March 2020, Prime Minister Muhyiddin announced a Movement Control Order to restrict the movement of people, shutting schools and non-essential businesses from 18 – 31 March 2020.
On 17 March 2020, the first and second death of Malaysian due to Coronavirus was reported. One of them was a 34-year-old man from Johor who attended the ritual event in Sri Petaling Mosque. Many Malaysians also started traveling back to their hometown, jamming the highways and bringing total traffic standstill in Singapore-Malaysia customs. Fear of ignorant Malaysians bringing viruses back to hometown to pass to elderlies arises.
On 19 March 2020, the total suspected cases of Coronavirus were reported to be 10,944 cases.
On 20 March 2020, a 58-year-old man who attended the ritual event in Mosque Sri Petaling passed away due to Coronavirus in Sabah. The total active cases were 1103 people and a total of 3 death cases. The death rate is at 0.3%.
We have seen how Italy lost control in the Coronavirus outbreak, it was due to several reasons. They could be low in awareness of social distance due to their hug and kiss greeting culture. Although there was an initial lockdown imposed by the government on 31st Jan, the country is seemed to not able to contain the virus outbreak in time. Within a span of 20 days since early March, the reported cases increased 84% to 12500 cases with 827 deaths and leaped another 63% to 41035 cases and 3405 deaths as of 20th March 2020, surpassing China’s total deaths of 3248. The total death rate is at a sky-high of 8%, the highest death rate of Coronavirus in the world. The obituary column reported 10 pages in length every day instead of the normal 1 page, the cemetery was full and foreign media reported that around 70 coffins were placed in 30 trucks. They would be transported to crematoria in a number of locations in Italy. After the body is cremated, the ashes will be brought back to Bergamo, the most seriously affected town in Italy.
Other reasons of Italy lost its containment of viruses were probably also due to not having well-preparation to handle the pandemic and strict precautionary measures available, a higher number of the aged population infected, hospitals running out of beds, cold weather at average 10-degree Celcius, a high number of smokers and many more others. It all started on 14 Feb 2020, a 38-year-old man from Lombardy visited a clinic as he was asymptomatic for weeks, he was prescribed flu medicine but he went back to seek medical treatment on 16 Feb when he got worse. There were no precautionary measures taken in the clinics. A doctor and a nurse were being infected by him. His pregnant wife and a friend were also tested positive with Coronavirus. His wife revealed that he had met an Italian friend who came back from Shanghai who was tested negative. The Lombardy virus cluster outbreak therefore started.
It is not the time to pinpoint and blame any party at this juncture. But by looking at the lessons we should learn from a severely affected country and the success of how China contain Coronavirus in a short span of about 3 months, there are actually 8 ways to stay healthy and stay safe from the infection of Coronavirus
8 Ways to Stay Healthy and Safe from Coronavirus
- Follow the movement control order strictly. For elderlies and young family members, it is advised to stay at home strictly due to the lower immune system by nature. Only 1 person is allowed to leave home for buying essentials, therefore, the stronger and younger adult should do this job.
- Full sanitization upon reaching home from outside, remove outfits and wash with Dettols, detergent or hot water. Wash hands, mobile phones thoroughly and shower before in contact with other healthy family members.
- Self-quarantine for any symptoms of runny nose, sore throat, fever, coughing symptoms in a separate room from other healthy family members. (tips: Do not share any food utensils with anyone at this very moment.)
- It is suggested that to call nearby hospital instead of visiting if chest-congested/pneumonia-like symptoms show for the serious patients. For the non-serious patients, it is advised to don full mask protection to avoid passing to anyone and maintain social distancing of at least more than 1m with anyone.
- Conduct frequent sanitization and disinfection to door handles, lift buttons, lifts, walkways, shoes, cars, patient’s bedrooms, protective masks (don’t forget!) and etc.
- Get the Sunlight! Sun your pillow regularly since Malaysia is a tropical country to enjoy natural disinfection by the hot sun. Sun patient’s pillows, bed linens. Get some sunlight for your body’s vitamin D too!
- Consume natural food that contains a good source of vitamin A, C, Bs such as lemon, lime, ginger, onions, carrots, vegetables, whole-grains such as https://nutribrownrice.com/how-malaysians-can-stay-safe-out-of-coronavirus-outbreak/, quinoa, etc. (you may also check out brown rice powder https://nutribrownrice.com/how-malaysians-can-stay-safe-out-of-coronavirus-outbreak/)
- Don masks at all times when you are outside especially in the hospital. You never know who has the virus!
Malaysians and people in the world, we can do it! Let’s stay safe and fight through the pandemic!
#juststayathome
References:-
https://www.vox.com/2020/2/26/21153438/coronavirus-iran-outbreak-pandemic
https://www.statista.com/statistics/1101680/coronavirus-cases-development-italy/
https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/malaysia/
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_coronavirus_pandemic_in_Italy
