COMMENT | Covid-19: Letting the guard down

COMMENT | As of July 21, 13 Orang Asli villages were put under the enhanced movement control order (MCO) as there were 287 positive Covid-19 cases detected. The total number of Orang Asli deaths due to Covid-19 was 19. These are official figures.

Since then, a small group - Reita of Gerai OA, Bah Tony and Colin of COAC - has been monitoring the Covid-19 situation among the Orang Asli.

Information and data are gleaned from the daily updates by the Health Ministry and various postings in the social media - including the Department of Orang Asli Development (Jakoa) websites, the discussions in various Orang Asli groups, as well as direct communication from those dealing directly with the Covid-19 situation in the Orang Asli community.

The data on Orang Asli is not always flagged as such, and some Orang Asli clusters also include numbers who are not Orang Asli or even non-citizens.

It is difficult to tease out the true numbers but what cannot be denied is that it is now widespread in the rural areas and increasingly, in the interior villages too.

But we should add that these are the minimum or 'lower-end' estimated numbers...