Let’s stop going overboard on Covid
Published on: Sunday, November 22, 2020
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I called KKM last week to check on their procedure for travelling from Kota Kinabalu to Kuala Lumpur. After many attempts I finally got through to a gentleman and checked on the procedure. He said you can fly from KK to KUL and at KLIA you will need to do the swab test which will be free by KKM…OK that’s fine... ”free” swab test BUT you will have to quarantine for 14 days.
I asked him what if my test is negative. He said despite whether Positive of Negative, the quarantine of 14 days stays. I then asked what if I do the test before I fly, he said still have to repeat that test at KLIA. So what is the point of us travelling if we have actually some urgent things to be done and we cannot do as we need to be quarantined.
Not finished…I asked how about when I need to return to Kota Kinabalu…after that 14 days. Need to do another test 3 days before travelling… ah and this time test to be borne by the passenger. We are already paying airfare then pay for swab test etc and get quarantined. This is ridiculous. I was really angry on what I was informed… So 14 days quarantine from KK to KL and 14 days quarantine on the trip back. Which makes 28 days…almost 1 month.
Well for civil service you can take how many days leave as you want but can private sectors do the same. Do the staff have that many days to take leave and stay at home if your result is negative. Is this being productive? The swab test is not cheap. KKM only accepts PCR test. They do not allow for the Antigen test which is cheaper and where you can get the result out within 24 hours. I was told that the PCR test by KKM sometimes can take more than 3 days to get the results…so how?
They should allow for the RTK Antigen test which is cheaper and results to be out faster only for those with symptoms. Don’t impose this on all rakyat and cos us further stress and expense. We even heard from a recent recording that KKM is short of the test kits. Why waste the test kits testing every passenger at the airport. Might as well use it for critical patients who show symptoms.
Wasting a lot of our tax payer’s money to keep testing every Tom, Dick and Harry who does not have any symptoms on Covid-19. WHY? By doing this you are congesting the hospital and overworking the medical staff and wasting time and money. Is the medical team only concentrating on one particular virus? How about other Illnesses eg. dengue, etc. which is far worse than Covid. Please don’t use this Covid to divert our attention.
We were already picking up from the last Lockdown. Look at the Aviation Industry…which has collapsed. So many people have lost their jobs. The Travel Restriction, has infact, paralysed the Aviation Industry. Are we helping the situation or making lives more miserable and difficult. The rule that every passenger needs to be tested is ridiculous. The swab test are not cheap. The Airlines were very good with their SOPs for passengers before. Please allow the Aviation to pick up and don’t destroy their careers and industry.
There is no need for swab test for every flying passenger within Malaysia unless they show symptoms. Am sure by now most people know what the symptoms of Covid-19 are… and once they feel, they are not well, they will surely go and see a doctor and get tested/treated and quarantined.
Everybody by now should know the SOPs. As long as we follow all SOPs, I think there is no need to have all this protocol of doing swab test, etc, for everyone flying within Malaysia. Do you think we the rakyat have so much money to keep doing swab test each time we need to travel to see our family or to attend to some urgent matters, etc?
Why do we need to do swab test when we do not have any symptoms. The government should start to educate people on Covid-19 instead of instilling fear in them.
Non-Essential services and production were greatly affected which led, among other things, to a reduction in the number of hours worked and to job losses. We are in a vulnerable situation if we continue with this trend and only concentrate on Covid. From my observation, many are already taking advantage of this work from home thing thinking it is their right to be away from work but on the other hand can be allowed to be anywhere eles except office… Are we sending the right message across?
The Covid-19 impact on Education is soaring. I met a parent who had a son in primary one. He was saying he was not sure if it would be better to send his son back to primary one again next year as this year the boy had totally not attended classes. Are we doing justice to our Education. Future of the younger generation is at stake.
Please bear in mind, This Covid-19 is here and won’t disappear overnight. So let’s all just learn to embrace it and move on in life instead of wasting time and tax payer’s money. Am sure those who feel sick will know to see a doctor and get treated/tested.
Let’s not damage our economy further. We cannot depend on the Government. We need the private sectors to boost our economy.
I am lost for words and cannot understand how our government implement certain things. Please be rational in implementing.
Please digest on this and act now to reduce the impact of Covid-19 and come up with a better system if you really care about our country.
Frustrated Rakyat
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