KUALA LUMPUR: The MCA has slammed the government for allegedly not being proactive enough in combating the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) outbreak.
The party’s international communication and diplomacy bureau chairman Dr Tee Chin Seng alleged that the government only reacted “casually” when the outbreak began in December.
“The responses were slow and no effective measures were taken,” he told reporters at the MCA headquarters, here today.
He said the fact that many people were buying face masks showed that they were anxious but the Deputy Health Minister, Lee Boon Chye, even gave the advice that masks were not essential.
Lee had, on Sunday, said that surgical masks do not block the transmission of the virus so there was no need to wear them. Furthermore, he added, there were no cases of human-to-human transmission in Malaysia.
Tee claimed that the government is not addressing the shortage of masks adequately.
“The demand has risen by supply has fallen,” he said.
