16 Feb 2021 / 20:39 H. Pix for illustration purposes.
KUALA LUMPUR: Special Advisor to the Prime Minister on Public Health, Tan Sri Dr Jemilah Mahmood said it was not impossible for Malaysia to achieve zero Covid-19 daily positive case through the implementation of the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme.
She said if 80 per cent of Malaysians got vaccinated, the country would succeed in achieving the targetted ‘Herd Immunity’.
However, she said during the implementation of the vaccination programme, the people must also play a role by continuing to comply with the standard operating procedure (SOP) set to prevent the spread of Covid-19.
“I think it is not impossible to achieve zero Covid-19 (daily case), but we try to bring down the number of cases as best we can and try to protect ourselves first.
It has been a year since Covid-19 hit the country, yet the staff of the Ministry of Health (MoH) are still committed and working tirelessly in the fight against the deadly pandemic. A posting by the MoH on its Facebook read that work continues as usual by all top management of the MoH and also the ministry's frontliners at hospitals, the Crisis Preparedness and Response Centre (CPRC), Covid-19 assessment centres (CAC) and clinics nationwide.
Rapid urbanisation is resulting in a growing number of slum dwellers, inadequate and overburdened infrastructure and services, and worsening air pollution. The Covid-19 pandemic will hit hardest the more than one billion slum dwellers worldwide, who suffer from a lack of adequate housing, no running water at home, shared toilets, little or no waste management systems, overcrowded public transport and limited access to formal healthcare facilities.
Urgent plans are needed to prepare for and respond to outbreaks in informal settlements and slums. The crisis has triggered companies to rethink their business model with a refreshed sense of perspective, by evaluating positive and negative impacts of the crisis throughout the business value chain.
Qyira says systemic change is necessary if we are ever to achieve gender parity.
TO take gender and women’s issues to the forefront of policymaking, it is vital that women are seen to be strongly represented in the political arena. Unfortunately, women only make up a small number of people who make laws and policies that directly impact the public, of which half are women.
Empower, an NGO focusing on women’s political equality, answered with a resounding “NO” when asked if enough is being done to ensure women are being represented in decision-making positions in all spheres.
“In Malaysia, the excuse of culture, tradition and religion is still being used to undermine the lives of girls and women. The opportunities and access to resources by women is largely being curtailed by the patriarchal power-play that we see daily in Malaysia by those in power – whether from political parties, leaders of businesses, religious community leaders, etc, ” says its executive director
KUALA LUMPUR (Dec 30): The government is in the midst of improving the process in order to expedite and smoothen the approval process for business travellers who make short trips to Malaysia for investment purposes. However, they will be subject to strict standard operating procedures (SOPs).
To eliminate red tape and bureaucracy, the government has set up a One-Stop Center (OSC) to facilitate a speedy approval process.
The OSC a quadripartite initiative by Malaysian Investment Development Authority (MIDA), Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI), Immigration Department and Ministry of Health has been operational since October. The center is tasked to assess and approve applications from long-term business travellers (those planning to be in the country for more than two weeks) and short-term travellers (those planning to visit for two weeks or less).