I make no apology for being one of those who put lives before the economy. I, therefore, commend the government for having extended the lockdown until we start seeing more clearly into this whole nightmare. 

People’s lives and their livelihoods cannot be dissociated. And therefore, lives and the economy are not contradictory. If people die in large numbers, how can the economy be sustained? Every loss of life is not only a tragedy for the family but also a clear loss of earnings for the economy. And, in a small country like ours, it is also an irreplaceable loss of human resources. For example, who is now saving the lives of those that Dr Bruno Cheong was treating before we lost him to Covid-19?

While there is no doubt in my mind where I stand in this debate and while my support for the government’s decision to tread with caution is unconditional, I do not for one minute buy the propaganda around the coronavirus being peddled by some charlatans and spin doctors. And I think that, if their advice is followed, there will be more loss of life.

“What exactly is the use of a test – any test – that tells you whether you have a very serious disease that might kill you but which can get the results wrong up to 66% of the time?”

I am fully aware that this government, like the previous one headed by the same prime minister and his father, has been stuck on the electoral campaign trail for the last six years. On Thursday, that became even more glaringly clear in parliament. Between propaganda and praise for the leader, we were served plentifully. This was made possible by a speaker of the National Assembly who goes deaf while this is going on and wakes up to kick senior members of the opposition out without further ado, thus allowing the unhinged, unimpeded propaganda to continue unabated. This time, we have exceeded the doses allowed by the doctor and we are heading for suicide as many questions remained unanswered.

Just how reliable are the PCR test kits from China? We know that many countries, including India, found them defective and unreliable and returned them to China. How many of those PCR test kits are we using here? As for the rapid tests on our frontline workers, we know from the World Health Organization that their reliability – either way – ranges from 34% to 80%. So what exactly is the use of a test – any test – that tells you whether you have a very serious disease that might kill you but which can get the results wrong up to 66% of the time? And please have some respect for our intelligence by not telling us that when the rapid test is positive, a PCR test is then carried out. What if it is negative – the probability of which can also go up to 66%? Isn’t that even worse?

These are not hypothetical questions. On Tuesday, as the prime minister was engaging full blast in a very well-orchestrated exercise of self-congratulations in parliament, a patient released from a quarantine centre after testing negative for the coronavirus landed in a private clinic, where he was inadvertently admitted to a regular ward for a full day. During the whole day, he shared the same space with other patients, was treated by the same doctors and nurses before someone thought of carrying out another test, which revealed that the patient was actually positive for Covid-19! As the protocol in private clinics is not the same as in public hospitals, the doctors apparently went about the business of treating other patients! How many people did the patient contaminate before he tested positive? How many people did the doctors and nurses contaminate? More worryingly, how many similar cases are out there? 

And perhaps a more pertinent question is this: Isn’t it time the government got off the campaign trail and put lives and livelihoods before politics? One day, we’d hate to have to say “We told you so, didn’t we?”