MUHYIDDIN SHOW HIS ‘CRUTCH’ MENTALITY EVEN OVER COVID-19 – INSTEAD OF CONTAINMENT OR LOCKDOWN MEASURES, NEW PM RUSHES TO ANNOUNCE RM600 CASH AID FOR WORKERS FORCED INTO TAKING NO-PAY LEAVE – BUT OF WHAT USE IS MONEY IF WORKERS DIE FROM SHEER NEGLIGENCE BY MUHYIDDIN REGIME TO STOP DEADLY CONTAGION

The government has further expanded on their economic stimulus package to ease the rakyat’s burden during the Covid-19 outbreak, including financial aid for workers forced to take no-pay leave.

“(There will be) financial aid to help employees who were forced to take no-pay leaves.

“The financial aid will be RM600 per employee per month for up to six months; it is eligible for employees given no-pay notice since March 1, 2020; it is eligible for those under the Employment Insurance Scheme (EIS) with no more than RM4,000 per month,” Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin (above) said in a press conference today.

He said this will cost the government RM120 million and about 33,000 workers are expected to benefit from this scheme.

This is part of what was discussed in the first economic action council meeting of the new government in Putrajaya today, Muhyiddin added.

[More to follow]

Track Covid-19 outbreak in Malaysia here.

Adham: We’re preparing for mitigation phase, quarantine centres being identified

Health Minister Adham Baba today said the government is making preparations to enter the mitigation phase of the Covid-19 outbreak, the most severe level.

“Considering the current situation, the Health Ministry would like to inform that it has entered the late containment stage.

“In the late containment stage, it is to contain the Covid-19 spread from becoming more serious.

“At the same time, the Health Ministry is making preparations to enter the mitigation stage,” Adham (above) said.

Previously, he had explained that there were four phases, starting with the onset phase, the early containment phase, the late containment phase and finally the mitigation phase.

Yesterday, he said Malaysia entered the “late containment” phase following 190 new Covid-19 cases which brought the national tally to 428.

Another 125 cases were reported today, bringing the total to 553 cases.

Among the measures being undertaken to prepare for the mitigation stage are as follow:

1) Turn Sungai Buloh Hospital into an admitting hospital specifically for positive Covid-19 cases.

2) Boost laboratory capacity and capability to trace Covid-19 infections.

3) Identify national quarantine centres across the country.

4) Cooperate with NGOs and private facilities to manage Covid-19 cases.

Mitigation refers to measures undertaken when health authorities believe they can no longer contain a virus and will instead try to “flatten to curve”.

This means the goal is to ensure the number of new cases will not increase too fast that hospitals are unable to cope.

If the number of cases increases too fast, hospitals will be overwhelmed and a lack of equipment, such as ventilators, means doctors must make life and death decisions for patients based on their likelihood to survive.

[More to follow]

MKINI