Closing schools fine, but relook SOPs and think about those living in poor internet coverage areas

On Wednesday, Malaysia recorded 3,142 new Covid-19 cases in a single day. That was the first time since Feb 24 (3,545) that we had more than 3,000 cases in a single day.

The following day, it went up to 3,332 while yesterday we recorded 3,788 cases.

Schools have been instructed to revert to online learning after the Hari Raya holidays.

States whose weekends are Friday-Saturday will implement the online classes from May 16-27, while in states whose weekends are Saturday-Sunday, online classes are from May 17-28.

This comes after Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Adham Baba revealed there were nearly 24,000 cases among pre-teens this year.

Last year, there were only 8,369 cases.

So obviously, something had gone wrong as we have nearly three times the number of cases in the education sector.

Hopefully, the Education Ministry can take this time to refocus and relook the standard operating procedures to ensure our children stay safe.

Online learning has its limits and those in Sabah and Sarawak are suffering as the internet coverage is poor.

My son, who stays with my in-laws about 30km from Kuching, does not have online classes.

When my home minister asked the teacher, he said besides poor internet coverage, many households could not afford devices to log on to classes.

It is good that the government has already started delivering 150,000 laptops and tablets to school children.

However, they need to also look into the woes of those in the rural areas as having devices without a working internet line will be of no use.

Anyway, today is the 410th day since the start of the original Movement Control Order and this is the 46th weekly edition of ‘The MCO Diaries’.

DOUBLE BLOW IN FIGHT AGAINST COVID-19

We hit two grim milestones this week. Fourteen deaths yesterday took fatalities to 1,506, an increase of 91 from a week ago.

This was the highest since Feb 6-12 when we had 108 deaths. That was four short of the record 112 deaths set the previous week (Jan 30-Feb 5),

On Wednesday, we surpassed 400,000 cases and as of yesterday, we reached 408,713 infections, an increase of 21,178 from a week ago.

That was the most number of new cases since Feb 6-12 (23,432).

Recoveries stand at 377,980 after 14,372 patients were given the all-clear in the past seven days.

In response to the rise in cases, Adham said a proposal that MCO be implemented in Selangor, Kuala Lumpur, Penang, Johor, Kedah and Sarawak has been submitted to state governments, the federal government and National Security Council.

Meanwhile, India ran out of vaccines yesterday as its Covid-19 numbers continued to rise.

It now has nearly 19 million cases with close to 209,000 deaths, both the second-worst in the world.

The United States of America has suffered the most from the coronavirus with more than 33 million cases and nearly 590,000 deaths.

Worldwide, we are approaching 151.4 million cases and 3.18 million fatalities.

SIGN UP FOR VIRTUAL RUN

Malaysia Olympians Association and Malaysia Olympism in Action Society will co-host a virtual run from June 1-22.

The #RUNwithOYMPIANS #RUNforOLYMPISM event is to support Malaysian athletes who will compete in the Tokyo Olympics that starts on July 23 and Olympic Day on June 23.

The fun run is a team effort with a minimum of two participants and a maximum of 15 runners.

Each team has to cover 127km – to mark the 127th anniversary of the establishment of the International Olympic Committee – within 22 days. Each runner is required to run at least 5km.

Registration is from today until June 7. To join the event, participants can visit www.getbiib.com/events.

10 MINUTES MAKES A DIFFERENCE

I have been sending the home minister to work the past week as she wasn’t feeling well. It made me even more grateful I don’t work a normal 9-5 job as the traffic was horrible. I saw more accidents in the past week than I did the previous three-and-a-half months.

A 10-minute difference in leaving home could also mean the commute to work would take close to an hour instead of 25 minutes.

I salute those who brave the traffic on a daily basis.

FOR A GOOD CAUSE

Euphrasia the Musical, the life story of Mary Euphrasia Pelletier, Mother Foundress of the Good Shepherd Sisters is now available online until June 30.

All ticket proceeds will go towards Good Shepherd missions around the world – promoting and protecting the rights of girls and women living in poverty, affected by human trafficking, violence, abuse and other violations of human rights.

LOOKING FOR CUSTOMERS

Saw this on Facebook. What a great post.

 THESE FILMS CAME OUT 20 YEARS AGO

Would you believe Legally Blonde came out 20 years ago? Here are 10 films that hit the screens in 2001.

THIS VERSION OF LADY MARMALADE IS ALSO 20

The song Lady Marmalade was originally released in 1974 by America girl group Labelle. Here’s the version which appeared in Moulin Rouge. Enjoy.