COMMENT | If he could, Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah would choose not to appear in front of public. He dislikes being the centre of attention, rejects the “hero” label, and he has not made a press conference in over two months. Until now.

Behind the face mask lies a battered man. After the long-drawn battle with the virus, the last thing he wanted to see was record highs of infected cases and death counts. We are nowhere near victory.

He started his press conference with the usual reporting. He warned us of the danger of celebrating too early and how India’s “tsunami” provided us a lesson.

“On 7th March, the leaders of India declared that the management and control of Covid-19 was very good and they would see the end of Covid in India. That was when gathering happened near the beaches, gathering happened for religious purposes,” he said.

“Secondly, they had five state elections… without social distancing and the wearing of face masks. That’s where the spread occurred.”

Noor Hisham showed a rare sign of anger when he talked about the “extraordinary times” we are living in.

“If you are infected, you come to the hospital, and there are no ICU beds, then we are in trouble,” he said. “We do not to be like other countries where we have to decide on who should live and who should die.”

He ended with his common refrain of complying with the SOP, wear face masks, wash your hands, and practise social distancing.

The Health director-general’s advice does not have the power it used to have. Every day, people are still taking the risk of crossing states and districts for “lame” excuses like...