COMMENT | As case numbers approach 50,000, with deaths steadily increasing to over 300, more experts are questioning Malaysia’s Covid-19 response.

The latest is an Imperial College report that suggests that there are considerably higher cases in the country than are being found. The focus of criticism locally has centred on the ineffectiveness of the blanket lockdown(s), with uneven ad hoc implementation, inadequate scientific justification and serious harm on the economy.

Unless the causes and substance of this criticism are adequately addressed, the credibility gap the government is facing over Covid-19 will widen.

As with many problems in Malaysia, the core challenges are political and systemic; Covid-19 has become caught in a political net – unnecessarily so...