The war against Covid-19: Triumphs, tragedies and Trump

Phase 3 MCO #Day1: If you're looking for good news, no need to go far. Try Perlis. There hasn't been any new Covid-19 case in Perlis for more than 20 days now. Or to Kedah, where seven of the state's districts have been coronavirus-free for over two weeks, writes Dr Mohamed Rafick Khan in the Malay Mail [Movement Control Order: What's the end game?].  

If you're looking for hope, light at the end of the tunnel, there's Wuhan, where it all started. After more than 70 days, the Chinese city lifted its lockdown last week. More than 50,000 people in Wuhan had caught the disease and some 2,500 died of it but now the 11 million people who call the city home have gotten their lives back. 

But if you're looking for rotten news and hopelessness, there's no end to it. 

And there's Trump who, in the middle of this pandemic, has just made good his earlier threats to end US funding to the World Health Organisation. The US President did that because he blamed China and WHO for the Covid-19. 

Surprisingly, a lot of people including Malaysians are buying into it. Me, if I want to look for troubled thoughts, I'd think of atomic bombs, Vietnam War, Palestine, Dessert Storm, 911 and WMD, among other things, and now the US President's move to stop funding WHO, the organisation responsible of putting an end to smallpox, polio, Ebola, etc and I will have to conclude that there is only one government in this world capable of manufacturing a pandemic, if it is at all possible.