As of 14 August 2009, the WHO reported that there have been 177,457 laboratory-confirmed cases of 2009-H1N1 influenza virus (new H1N1) with 1,462 deaths (mortality rate of 0.824%).
Malaysia has 64 deaths from 4,225 cases, a mortality rate of 1.51%. This puts Malaysia at least 2x above the global average in terms of deaths:infection ratio.
I wonder when the Government is going to do something really drastic to keep the numbers under control. The spread of the infection needs to stop. Flu is a "social disease" -- it spreads through humans via social contact. Therefore, stopping the spread of the infection = halting all social contact besides non-essential contact. Closing the shopping malls, cinemas, LRTs, public gatherings, etc.
It'll hurt the economy tremendously if we did this. Billions of billions of ringgit will be lost, with months of recovery afterwards; Mexico has yet to recover from its 7-day shutdown. Can Malaysia(ns) afford the same? The question left now is, how much is a life worth (especially if its not yours)?
