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PETALING JAYA: DAP’s Bukit Gasing assemblyman Rajiv Rishyakaran has called on the government to approve 750 clinics in Selangor which have registered to provide Covid-19 vaccination to the public under the national immunisation programme.

He said once these clinics were approved, more people could come forward for vaccination as these general practitioners were located closer to their homes.

“Despite a huge showing of interest from these clinics on the JKJAV (Covid-19 Vaccine Supply Access Guarantee Special Committee) website, you can hardly see any names of private clinics approved.

​“We are already in the second half of June. Stop dawdling and approve all these registered 750 clinics here to administer as many doses as they can,” he said in a statement.

Previously, vaccination coordinating minister Khairy Jamaluddin said that more mega vaccination centres (PPVs) would be set up in Selangor soon and that about 25% of available vaccines would be made available to the state.

Rajiv said the government should stop focusing on mega PPVs and allow these 750 clinics in Selangor access to vaccines.

“Do away with your excuses of not giving vaccines to  Selangor because the PPVs that you set up are not capable of managing bigger numbers,” he said.

PETALING JAYA: The government aims to vaccinate 80% of the Pahang population, including the Orang Asli and those in rural areas, before the monsoon season in October.

Vaccination coordinating minister Khairy Jamaluddin said in a press conference today the government will supply 440,000 vaccine doses to Pahang from next month.

​This is in addition to the 180,000 vaccine doses in June.

JOHOR BAHRU: Thirty-two individuals were slapped with compounds totalling RM48,500 for flouting the SOPs under the movement control order (MCO) after they were found gathering and playing badminton at a sports centre in Skudai, two days ago.

Johor Bahru north district police chief Rupiah Abd Wahid, in a statement today, said they consist of the owner of the sports centre and the badminton players aged between 18 and 44.

She said the police raided the premises at Batu 6, Jalan Skudai at about 5.30pm following a tip-off from the public.

​“The owner of the premises was compounded RM2,000 while the rest were compounded RM1,500 each for playing badminton during the MCO period and not observing physical distancing.

“The offences were committed under the Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases (Measures in Local Areas of Infection) Regulations 2021,” she said.

KUALA LUMPUR: Police are offering a 50% discount to traffic offenders to settle their outstanding summonses online from tomorrow to July 18.

Bukit Aman traffic investigation and enforcement department director Azisman Alias said road users currently under trial and those who had committed major offences this year are not eligible for the discount.

This includes offences involving heavy vehicles and exhaust pipe modifications.

​Azisman said the payments could be made via the MyBayar Saman portal and app.

“The discount offer is an effort to support the government’s aspiration to provide cashless payment services during the Covid-19 pandemic.

“Throughout the campaign period, all service counters at police contingent and district headquarters will be closed to curb the spread of Covid-19 during the implementation of the movement control order (MCO) 3.0,” he said in a statement.

Azisman said police would be improving the MyBayar Saman app to enable companies and business entities to register as users and make payments through the app.

PETALING JAYA: “Finally, I’ve received my first vaccine dose,” chirped Nazatul Afidah Md Noor at a vaccination centre (PPV) at the Sime Darby headquarters in Ara Damansara.

It was a joyous occasion for the 41-year-old, who got her Sinovac jab at 2.30pm yesterday.

However, it is not a typical PPV and not everyone can be vaccinated there.

Nazatul was, in fact, not waiting in a hall with hundreds of other vaccine recipients, but in the comfort of her car. Sitting on the passenger seat was her son.

She is among 16,000 persons with disabilities (OKU) in the Klang Valley who have been given the opportunity to receive the Covid-19 vaccine at the new drive-through PPV facility in Ara Damansara.

The centre can handle up to 200 vaccinations a day. Yesterday was its first day of operations.

For each disabled person, one carer will also receive his or her shots at the centre.

Nazatul, who suffers from dyslexia and dyscalculia, said she was overjoyed when she received a notification on MySejahtera of her appointment two weeks ago.

“I told my parents and family about it, and they assured me the vaccine was safe,” she said. “In all those months of waiting since January, I didn’t lose hope because I knew I’d get mine when the time came. Patience is all it takes.”

Muhammad Sharif, 40, a caregiver and brother of Muhammad Shahidi, 30, who has Down’s Syndrome, lauded the government’s initiative for the OKU.

​“I’m glad the government did not overlook this group. It would be hard for some of them to undergo the same vaccination process like everyone else,” he said.

Sharif said Shahidi was the only member of his family to have been vaccinated so far.

“The rest of us are still waiting for the appointment date. But that’s okay. As long as Shahidi has received his, the rest of us are relieved.”

Another OKU carer, Nur Fini, said she had been hoping to receive the vaccine together with her husband at the same time.

“They said for each OKU, one carer would also receive vaccination shots here. But somehow, I didn’t get mine. Maybe because this is the PPV’s first day of operation. I hope they can improve this part of the operation.

“Other than that, it was a smooth process.”

Her husband suffers from a severe brain injury and depends solely on her. “It will be hard for me to leave him when I get my vaccination appointment,” she said.

According to women, family and community development minister Rina Harun, the number of vaccine registrations by persons with disabilities remains low.

She said more than 600,000 OKUs were registered with the social welfare department of the ministry, but only 240,991 had so far registered for the vaccination programme through MySejahtera. Of that number, 10,229 have received their first dose.

PETALING JAYA: Property management agent Knight Frank (KF) has said issues plaguing the lifts of a luxury condominium, Five Stones had existed long before it took over the management.

Its managing director Sarkunan Subramaniam said the property was “handed over” to the joint management body (JMB) in mid May 2016.

And KF, he said, was officially appointed on June 1, 2016.

Sarkunan said KF had nothing to do with the installation as well as the servicing of the lifts prior to that.

He said they managed the building and oversaw the lift maintenance contractor “to ensure they maintain the lifts”. He said KF did not maintain the lifts itself.

“Whilst the maintenance is carried out on schedule, the lifts have seen unscheduled breakdowns regularly since the day we took over,” he said in a statement.

Sarkunan said the lifts were installed and serviced by another company but would not divulge the name following legal advice.

“We at Knight Frank have worked tirelessly with the JMB and management corporation (MC) in trying to resolve the issue of the lift breaking down. This is not because of poor management by us.”

Sarkunan said they were working with the current MC to identify and appoint new lift maintenance contractors “with a view to ensuring that the inconvenience caused to owners and residents of Five Stones is alleviated”.

Reporters had earlier reported about frequent breakdowns of the lifts at the Five Stones Condominium.

The lifts, according to the residents, would break down more than “four times a week”.

But the developer, Selangor Dredging Bhd, said it ensured everything was in good working condition when it handed them over to Knight Frank in 2016.

PETALING JAYA: Opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim has questioned the government’s transparency in sharing the Covid-19 statistics, saying the data available publicly does not support the recent drop in the number of daily cases.

Commenting on a decline of cases from 9,020 on May 29 to 4,949 on Monday, Anwar said “this does seem like a miracle until you take note of high positive rates and high fatality rates during the same period”.

In a statement, he said the data made available to the public did not support an actual 45% drop in daily cases because the “continued high utilisation of ICU beds and the proliferation of severe Covid-19 cases suggest otherwise”.

He pointed out that on May 29, a total of 126,480 tests were conducted and testing had increased in the 15 days before that by 166%. However, daily reported cases had likewise increased 104% during that same period and the case positive rate was near or above 7% during the first week of June.

​Since May 29, he said, daily cases had dropped 45% and daily testing also dropped 44%.

“Case positive rates have been rising for three days and have averaged 6.67% for the last seven days. In some states, the positive rate is as high as 13%,” he said.

He highlighted the inconsistency, asking if it was possible for the government to “manipulate the perception of the severity of the pandemic through a selective presentation of data”.

“It is possible that data can be manipulated to show the virus is spreading fast enough to justify the ongoing granting of emergency powers to the PN government, but not fast enough to highlight the government’s manifest incompetence in managing the pandemic.

“Are daily cases higher than 10,000? The only way to be certain is to follow scientific methods. If we test more and find more cases, then we can properly isolate, contact trace and support those infected individuals.

“If we test more and do not find cases, only then can we have certainty that the spread is declining,” he said.

Anwar said many health experts had voiced similar concerns but the health ministry remained silent about it.

He said the management of the pandemic should not be politicised.

“Allowing politics and narrow political interests to dictate strategy is a recipe for failure, more lost lives and destruction of the Malaysian economy.

“If we do not follow science, as appears to be the case with the PN government, then the tremendous sacrifices made by Malaysians during lockdowns will be for nought. The virus will continue to spread, maim and kill.

“The strategy has to change. The only way to exit Covid-19 is to rely on sound scientific methods, data sharing, transparency and accountability. We cannot succeed without all of society on board. This is only possible when trust and confidence are restored between the people and the government,” he said.

PETALING JAYA: The decision to continue or relax the SOPs during the total lockdown must be based on data-driven studies and not depend on just the number of daily Covid-19 infections, say health experts.

This comes following the government’s proposal to review the need to continue or relax the SOPs under MCO 3.0 if the number of daily infections drops below 4,000 cases.

Senior minister for security Ismail Sabri Yaakob said the targeted figure was set by the health ministry to ensure the daily infectivity rate nationwide can be reduced.

However, former deputy health minister Dr Lee Boon Chye and Universiti Malaya epidemiology specialist Dr Sanjay Rampal said rather than adopting a “blanket approach” on the decision, the government should review the SOPs based on localities, high-risk areas, and high rate of community transmission, among others.

“After two weeks of lockdown, the health ministry should have a clearer picture of ongoing clusters and the distribution of active cases. Therefore, the decision should be data-driven, based on whether the active cases are in localised areas or more widespread,” Lee told reporters.

He said if most of the active cases were recorded at workplaces and among foreign workers, it would be possible to relax the SOPs even if the daily infections remained above the targeted figure.

“In this case, the government should implement (the) enhanced movement control order (EMCO) at localities with a high number of active cases and community transmission,” he said.

Sanjay agreed, saying that SOP relaxation should vary based on sectors.

“The effect of SOP relaxation on transmission varies by sectors. For example, shopping, physical recreation and eating out are less likely to affect disease transmission compared to working in factories or staying in congested housing,” he told reporters.

He said the SOPs should be recalibrated based on the current epidemiological indicators.

SOP recalibration should be led by an algorithm that integrates caseloads (total and case densities accounting for population size), percentage of community transmission, transmissibility (Rt) and healthcare utilisation.

Localising SOPs to regions rather than the national level would also improve its benefit-to-cost ratio, he said.

The government announced a total nationwide lockdown, similar to the first MCO, from June 1 to June 14. It was extended for another two weeks from June 15 until June 28.

Ismail had said the decision was necessary because of high daily Covid-19 numbers then.

PETALING JAYA: The number of Covid-19 recipients for a day reached a record high of 215,876 yesterday.

The Covid-19 vaccine supply access guarantee special committee (JKJAV) said 160,226 received their first dose and 55,650 their second dose of the vaccine.

On Monday, a total of 197,963 doses were administered, the highest at the time.

National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme coordinating minister Khairy Jamaluddin had said the government was aiming to administer an average of 150,000 vaccines a day this month, before increasing it to 200,000 jabs daily by July.

To achieve this, the government opened several mega vaccination centres, with the Mines International Exhibition and Convention Centre being the latest.

Meanwhile, private general practitioners have administered up to 10% of vaccines as of Friday and are expected to contribute 145,000 vaccinations a day by July.

KOTA KINABALU: The need for more Covid-19 vaccination exercises in Sabah, especially in rural areas, was among crucial issues presented by PBRS and Upko to the Yang di-Pertuan Agong Sultan Abdullah Sultan Ahmad Shah yesterday.

In separate virtual audiences with the King, PBRS deputy president Arthur Joseph Kurup and UPKO president Wilfred Madius Tangau, both agreed that various strengthening measures should be implemented to ensure a more effective vaccination programme in the state.

Arthur said Sabah still has one of the lowest rates of vaccine registrations in the country, which, among other things, is due to geographical factors such as road infrastructure and inefficient internet facilities in the state.

“However, manual registration exercise is being carried out in the interiors such as in Pensiangan, so that the people can be registered to receive the vaccines, apart from the mobile vaccination programme for the villagers.

“I was given the opportunity to present the issue and share some views with the King, and this shows his concern for Malaysians in Sabah. He was deeply concerned about issues related to Covid-19 and how to deal with it, and the challenges of the vaccination programme in remote areas,” the Pensiangan MP said.

Arthur, who is also deputy minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, said he also submitted his view on the current economic situation, including aspects of unemployment and gross domestic product, apart from the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the people in rural Sabah.

Meanwhile, Madius, who is also Tuaran MP, said he spoke of the need for the direct involvement of the state government machinery and the corporate sector to expedite the vaccination process in Sabah.

“Give the state government the opportunity to buy vaccines and run their own vaccination programme, as well as for the corporate sector who can afford it, such as GLCs, so that they can purchase the vaccines and give them to their staff,” he said in an online press conference yesterday.

Apart from that, he said the federal government should also speed up the approval process for more brands of vaccines in the country to enable more vaccine doses to be administered, as only Pfizer-BioNTech, AstraZeneca and Sinovac vaccines have been approved so far.

Madius said he also informed the King of the need to set up a Parliamentary Special Committee to ensure that all MPs, including the opposition, were given responsibilities in decision-making, as the fight against Covid-19 needed political stability.

“Give opposition leaders the opportunity to sit in the National Security Council, especially the more senior MPs, to share views on how to handle Covid-19 and also address various issues that arise, especially involving the people and the economy.

“Apart from that, the loan moratorium also needs to be re-implemented comprehensively, instead of targeted or conditional on bank loans to companies and individuals. Also, the provision of laptops (to students) needs to be accelerated, and broadband access expanded, especially in rural areas,” Madius said.