This article first appeared in Forum, The Edge Malaysia Weekly on February 8, 2021 - February 14, 2021

Recently, there was a video of a TV report circulating on social media on a Covid-19-positive five-year-old girl who had to be taken away from her home by an ambulance. It was heart-wrenching to see the young girl bidding goodbye to her mother and to hear her mother telling her to take care of herself.

It felt wrong watching this real-life episode. It must have been traumatic for the little girl to go with strangers and leave her mother. One would think that for a young child going through such an ordeal, it would have been better for her to have her mother next to her. Causing mental or psychological stress in such a manner is not only horrific but, to some, inhumane. And doing it to a young child and a distraught mother is even more so.

We hear of so many similar cases of the old, the disabled and the poor being treated the same way and shudder when thinking about the effects brought about by our actions in handling Covid-19. How far have we strayed as humans from our way of living, our faith, our family, our livelihood, our economy and our health systems. The more important question is, are we any better today?

During my stint in Silicon Valley, the US, I learnt that businesses there adopt the “fail fast” mentality. It is not so much about failing rather the lessons learnt from the failures. Those lessons, if studied and learnt, would enable businesses to scale even faster. So, what have we learnt after a year of trying to cope with Covid-19?

Obviously, the solutions imposed did not work. Various levels of Movement Control Order (MCO) for more than a year have not worked. The virus is still spreading and the number of positive cases continues to rise. We should be honest enough to admit this. Business has taught me that if you continue to do the same things, you cannot expect a different result. So, if the past and current solutions do not work, let us find alternatives and better solutions.

The second lesson is herd mentality. Taking suggested solutions from foreigners may work. But in this case, they did not. Let us come up with our own solutions for what is best for our nation and our people. No more of this herd mentality of merely following and copying others. After all, this is what being an independent and sovereign nation is about — to be able to think for ourselves and decide what is best for our people, independent of others.

Following these lessons, let us look at the consequences of our actions. After a year of imposing the same solutions, our economy is gravely challenged, many companies have closed shop and a lot of employees have been dismissed. Families have been separated by distancing and face reduced livelihood. Faith is challenged with congregational prayers not allowed. Communities are further segregated. Our way of life is no more. And the list goes on.

We must acknowledge that it is economically suicidal for our nation and our people to allow this to continue. So, let us start thinking for ourselves and do what is best for us regardless of how the rest of the world behaves.

Today, we live in a digital and social media world that is, unfortunately, embedded with a tsunami of lies and disinformation. Lies are branded as truths, and truths as lies. Some of the lies are as clear as day. The consequence of this tsunami of lies is confusion and chaos. The good thing is, facts do not lie, but people do. In business, if the CEO is provided with all the correct data, he should be able to make great decisions and grow the company.

So, let us look at the facts. At the time of writing, Malaysia had 214,959 confirmed cases and 760 deaths. That means the death rate is less than 0.4%. It also means the survival rate is quite high at 99.6%. In summary, if you contract the Covid-19 virus, it is likely that you have a good 99.6% chance of surviving it. The exception to that statement is if you are in the high-risk group — the aged and patients with chronic diseases — then you are likely to be in the 0.4%.

Now that we have established this, next comes the difficult part of making a tough unprecedented decision. This is a suggestion: With a high survival rate of 99.6%, what if we do not track the positive cases. We would save billions on test kits and drastically reduce the pressure on our healthcare system and frontliners. Our way of life could be reinstalled, families could be reconnected and our economy could finally start to be rebuilt. Instead, let us focus all of our efforts on the 0.4% and track the high-risk group and potential death cases.

With big data analytics, we can create business intelligence on data of patients with chronic diseases and a high percentage of susceptibility to succumbing to this virus. Let us focus on protecting this group. We can do away with the blanket solution for all. Let us also protect the aged, who face the same high risk. Some are already retired, so it should be doable.

For the ones who are still working, this group needs support in terms of how to still function effectively while being protected. The rest who are young, strong and with good immune systems should go out there and build the economy and our nation. The calling is to work harder and smarter amid all these challenges, so that we can build enough for all, to be in a position that we are able to help the at-risk group.

Using the clear fact of 99.6% survival rate, let us make sure that we secure vaccines faster, so that we can first and foremost improve the survival rate of the most vulnerable to above 99.6%, and also for the frontliners. We all understand the economics of supply and demand. We could save billions if we do not follow the herd mentality of chasing limited supply by paying a premium as demanded.

In the meantime, we should also focus on medication. I am sure we have enough expertise and with proper focus and investment, we could produce a medicinal solution and buy more medical equipment to quicken recovery.

Guide our society to live in a world where Covid-19 and worse viruses in the future will come and thrive among us. Covid-19 is the training ground — a training that we cannot afford to fail. We must unlearn and relearn to live with these viruses without compromising on what is important — our livelihood, our family, our faith, our humanity, our way of life and all things that are essential to us.

These are tough times. Only time will tell if we did the right thing. Feel free to disagree with me, but let us work together to protect our nation and all our people.

Datuk Azrin Mohd Noor, the founder of Sedania Group, is an innovator, author and IP expert

Save by subscribing to us for your print and/or digital copy.

P/S: The Edge is also available on Apple's AppStore and Androids' Google Play.