There has been plenty of talk online about whether it would be safe to send our children back to school. It comes after an alarming rise in Covid-19 cases in recent days.
While many talk about the safety of the children, one thing most overlook is the stupidity of the people.
Take the recent long weekend which saw thousands flocking to holiday destinations in the country with many not adhering to standard operating procedures (SOPs).
My colleague Amar Qastellani who was in Penang, said he was afraid to enter an eatery when he saw how many people were crammed inside.
He observed many were not using their masks properly and there was hardly any physical distancing (main picture).
“There were Rela volunteers there, but the people didn’t care to check or adhere to SOPs.
“I purposely didn’t check my temperature and scan the MySejahtera app to see if the Rela volunteers were paying attention as I noticed they were playing with their phone,” said a frustrated Amar, who quickly returned to scan the mobile application and his temperature.
“Earlier, at Komtar, I had to tell off a staff member for wanting to fit 12 people inside a lift.
“Initially, they only allowed a maximum of four people in one lift. Later on, when the queue got longer, they tried to squeeze in as many people as possible.
“When I objected to having more than four, they asked the others to go out.
“I don’t know what happened after that.”
This madness prompted a funny retort from a parody account.
While I laughed, I also saw much truth in it.
Many parents talked about the dangers of exposing their children to the coronavirus in school but didn’t think that way when it was time for their holiday.
Another case of Covidiotitis was related by a friend who said there was a positive case in her condominium. When the ambulance came to pick the person up, the resident had gone for dinner!
These are the kind of Covidiots who should be fined and thrown in jail.
There was also a viral video of a man berating a waiter for not bringing cutlery for his wife. But in the video, the wife was clearly wearing a pink tag to identify she should be quarantined.
So yes, while I’m afraid of sending my kids to school, the number of Covidiots everywhere makes me think no place is safe.
Let’s wait for Monday to see what Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin has to say about the tightening of SOPs or whether the Movement Control Order (MCO) will be reinstated.
Anyway, today is the 298th day of MCO and this is the 30th weekly edition of ‘The MCO Diaries’.
MORE UNWANTED RECORDS
On Monday we reached 500 deaths with seven fatalities taking the total to 501. That number went up to 537, including a record-high 16 fatalities yesterday. That means 63 patients lost the fight against Covid-19 in the past seven days. That is a record seven-day high since the start of the weekly ‘The MCO Diaries’.
Malaysia also recorded 16,030 new infections in the past week, including three single-day highs on Thursday (3,027), yesterday (2,643) and Wednesday (2,593). This brought the number of cases to 131,108.
Once again, the 16,030 cases are a record seven-day high.
That means that Malaysia is now ranked 68th among the worst affected countries. The number of active cases rose to 25,140.
The good news is there were a record number of recoveries on Saturday when 3,321 patients were declared cured. In the past week, 14,260 patients were given the all-clear, taking the number of recoveries to 105,431.
Worldwide, there are more than 88.6 million cases, an increase from 83.9 million a week ago. Globally there have been 1.9 million deaths.
HOW TO ADMINISTER VACCINE SUCCESSFULLY
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Several experts share their best time-management tips and tricks to help you lose weight and keep it off.
OUTFIT OF THE DAY
A NIGELLA SPECIAL
Here’s a pasta recipe from the Domestic Goddess Nigella Lawson – spaghetti with lemon and garlic breadcrumbs. I’m planning to try this soon.
IS THIS POSSIBLE?
A CLASSIC REIMAGINED
The great Dolly Parton has teamed up with Barry Gibb for a new version of the Bee Gees classic ‘Words’.
The reworking of the 1968 track will appear on Gibb’s new album, ‘Greenfields: The Gibb Brothers Songbook, Vol.1’, which will feature versions of songs from the Gibb family’s discography.
Besides Parton, other singers to appear on the 12-track LP include the likes of Sheryl Crow, Olivia Newton-John, Miranda Lambert and Brandi Carlile.
