Pandemic has happened to unite us!
— Somya Kedia, Indian teacher
I had a big shock early this week when I checked the Hotspot Tracker on my MySejahtera.
Suddenly this message popped out – “Hi, Adeline, there have been 14 case (s) of Covid-19 within a 1km radius from your current location in the last 14 days.”
That was the first time I received such a message on my phone.
That morning, the first place I visited was a popular food court in Tabuan Jaya. I had lunch there and made sure I sat in quite a secluded, sunny and airy corner table on the walkway far away from the madding crowd.
Before going home, I visited a supermarket there and then another supermarket in Tabuan Laru to replenish my grocery stocks.
Despite the Covid-19 pandemic, I needed to eat and buy food to live.
Those who know me will know I am not one to fiddle around with my phone. But what made me check the Hotspot icon on MySejahtera a few hours later that day was a story I read in social media. The story was not about the Hotspot Tracker. Instead, it was about a woman who forgot to press the checkout in the MySejahtera app.
Because of that seemingly trivial matter, her family holiday came to an abrupt end. You see, she was not allowed to board a plane.
TikTok user Eyra Zaharah recently shared the unfortunate story about her forgetful mother with netizens. Eyra said when they were at the airport, her mother’s MySejahtera displayed a red status.
Her mother had apparently forgotten to press check-out on the application for almost a fortnight!
The check-out function was introduced in September this year by the Ministry of Health (MoH) Malaysia to facilitate contact tracking for MySejahtera users contact tracking and stop the spread of Covid-19 among the people.
Like Eyra’s mother, sometimes I also forget to press check-out on the application whenever I leave a location. One of my good friends, however, never forgets and whenever I go out with her, she always reminds me to do so.
It is not fun to be determined as a casual contact just because you were at the same time and place as a Covid-19 patient based on your check-in data.
My good friend once had to undergo 10 days’ self quarantine at home because she was determined as a casual contact based on her check-in data. But she did not know where and when it happened. She said MoH also did not tell her.
Checking out, I guess, is a habit most of us have to get used to whenever we leave a location after visiting it.
Anyway, soon after the check-out feature was introduced on the MySejahtera application, many users in Malaysia complained that they always forgot to sign off when leaving a location.
This prompted Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin to reveal that his ministry was looking into improving the feature.
Touching on the issue, Khairy even said in jest that he had ‘slept’ inside a supermarket if one were to look at his MySejahtera history.
hope the ministry will improve the feature as soon as possible for the convenience of the public, including yours truly.
Anyway, coming back to the Hotspot Tracker app, I’ve promised myself I will check on it religiously everyday.
Now, I am no longer shocked when I see similar messages popping out on my handphone, informing me of the number of Covid-19 cases that has occurred within a 1km radius from my current location in the last 14 days.
It seems to me, based on the messages, there are Covid-19 cases happening within a 1km radius of almost all the few locations I often visit in Tabuan Jaya and Tabuan Laru.
I wish the messages are more specific like mentioning the exact locations where the Covid-19 cases happened. Then we will know which areas to avoid totally. Most of us go out not for fun but to eat or to buy food. Lucky are those who don’t have to go out but still have food to eat.
I wonder what is happening, Why are there so many cases still around although so many people in Sarawak have been fully vaccinated and have even received the booster dose? Perhaps the MoH or the Sarawak Disaster Management Committee can explain.
Is Covid-19 here to stay? And is MySejahtera going to be part of our lives forever?
