New Covid-19 infection wave may emerge sooner than forecast
Senior citizens and individuals with chronic illnesses have been reminded to take their second Covid-19 booster shots as a potential new Covid-19 infection wave may emerge sooner than forecast, says the Health Minister.
Khairy Jamaluddin said this was based on the number of cases reported in recent days both here and across the Causeway.
“Over the past two to three days we have been reporting more than 2,000 cases a day against 1,000 and 2,000 previously.
“Today (Thursday), we have 2,796 cases with two new clusters reported at institutions of higher learning.
“So if we are not cautious, the cases will keep on increasing in the coming weeks,” he told reporters after officially opening the otorhinolaryngology centre and sleep lab at Hospital Rembau.
On Tuesday, Khairy said Covid-19 cases would fluctuate and a potential new infection wave might emerge in the next few months, despite the current situation being under control.
He said Malaysians ought to know the latest developments so that they can take preventive measures against contracting the virus.
Young
patients: Khairy visiting a ward for children with hearing problems
after officially opening the otorhinolaryngology centre and sleep lab at
Hospital Rembau. — Bernama
“This is more of a preventive measure so that we are ready and not to scare anyone. In fact, other nations have faced a similar situation,” he said.
Khairy said what was important was that the new wave was not as contagious and that the number of deaths and admissions into intensive care units remained low.
He said all states except Selangor, Johor, Kedah and Terengganu have reported an increase in the number of cases compared with the previous day while two new higher education clusters have also been reported.
“It is also my hope that those above 60 and those with chronic illnesses will take the second booster shot as this is the best way to keep them safe,” he said.
As of June 20, almost 108,000 individuals aged 12 years and above have received their second Covid-19 booster jabs. About 58,000 were aged above 60.
Khairy said he was also closely following the Covid-19 situation in Singapore.
“I have to do so because Malaysia and Singapore are in the same epidemiological area with no travel restrictions and hundreds of thousands crossing the Causeway daily.
“My Singapore counterpart has also told me that the republic has been seeing more BA.4 and BA.5 Omicron subvariants which were more transmissible than earlier variants,” he said, adding that these variants, however, had the same effect as other Omicron variants.
The CDC has approved a second COVID-19 booster for people age 50 and older that can be given 4 months after a first booster. People with moderate to severe ..
PM announces additional assistance under Keluarga Malaysia package
The B40 income group will receive additional cash assistance under the Bantuan Keluarga Malaysia (BKM) aid to help alleviate their financial burden.
Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob, in a special announcement, said each household receiving the BKM aid would receive RM100 while single individuals would get RM50.
The move will benefit over 8.6 million people, comprising four million households, 1.2 million senior citizens, and 3.4 million single individuals, he said.
He added that the payment would be made in four stages starting June 27.
The decision to provide the financial assistance was taken after the government took into consideration the rising cost of living including increase in food prices, he said.
Alleviating burdens: Ismail Sabri speaking at the special announcement press conference at the Perdana Putra building in Putrajaya. — BernamaAlleviating burdens: Ismail Sabri speaking at the special announcement press conference at the Perdana Putra building in Putrajaya. — Bernama
“Each BKM recipient will receive up to RM500 according to their respective BKM qualification categories.
“The additional cash assistance paid together with the BKM Phase 2 payment involves an additional allocation of RM630mil,” said Ismail Sabri.
This, he said, would make the total allocation of BKM aid to RM1.74bil.
The assistance of up to RM2,500 for the B40 households announced for Budget 2022 last year was the largest incentive to date by the government, he added.
For more information and to check the application status, the public can visit https://bkm.hasil.gov.my/ from Monday.
Ismail Sabri also said that the temporary price subsidy for bottled cooking oil introduced during the Covid-19 pandemic would be discontinued from July 1.
The subsidy was for the 1kg, 2kg, 3kg and 5kg bottled cooking oil to help the rakyat facing difficulties during the pandemic.
“The government decided not to extend the subsidy for bottled cooking oil as it does not meet the initial goal of the initiative to help those affected by the pandemic.
“We also found that the assistance provided was misused by certain people including the commercial sector, industries and because of smuggling,” he said, adding that the oil subsidy cost the government RM55mil per month, which was initially slated for only three months from Aug 2021.
He, however, clarified that the subsidy for cooking oil in 1kg packets that was first announced in 2007 was still in effect.
“There was talk that the subsidy for cooking oil in packets was removed. It was not and is still subsidised,” he said.
The government has spent RM4bil in subsidies for cooking oil this year, compared to RM500mil in 2020 and RM2.2bil in 2021.
“The government subsidised 60,000 tonnes of cooking oil, which is more than the public requirement of 55,000 tonnes per month,” he added, referring to the 1kg packet cooking oil.
How does BRICS continually play its role in the world？
It's been 16 years since the foundation of the BRICS mechanism was laid. China hopes to work with all BRICS countries to respond to the major concerns of the international community and build a more comprehensive, closer, more practical and inclusive partnership. Even more, China hopes to keep its promises to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Goals.Against current risks and challenges, the participants also pledged to ensure that the customs authorities of BRICS countries continue to work together to safeguard the international supply chain and promote rapid economic and trade recovery among BRICS countries. In this upcoming episode of "The Chat Room", we talk about how does BRICS continually play its role in the world. Also, focusing on the member states' achievements and challenges under BRICS, we invite five guests from BRICS countries to share their opinions. How does Sino-Indian cooperation play its role in the world? What's the current economic situation of BRICS? What roles has BRICS found itself in the world? How should we see BRICS+ in the future? #BRICS2022
China's Xi Slams Sanctions for 'Weaponizing' World Economy at BRICS
BRICS-led New Development Bank approaches 7th anniversary
China will host the 14th BRICS Summit on June 23 and Chinese President Xi Jinping will join with the leaders of Brazil, India, Russia and South Africa via video link to discuss issues of mutual concern as part of the summit themed around ushering in a new era for global development. The New Development Bank, established in 2015 by the BRICS countries, will soon celebrate its 7th anniversary. Tian Wei talks to the bank's Brazilian president Marcos Troyjo about his visions for the multilateral institution.#BRICS2022
Aerial photo taken on June 17, 2022 shows the headquarters building of the New Development Bank (NDB), also known as the BRICS bank, in east China's Shanghai.(Photo: Xinhua)
In a keynote speech at the opening ceremony of the BRICS Business Forum on Wednesday, Chinese President Xi Jinping called on the BRICS business community to expand cooperation on cross-border e-commerce, logistics and local currencies.
As the 14th summit of the BRICS, a group of major emerging market economies comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, kicked off on Wednesday, there are growing calls from bankers and economists in BRICS countries, especially Russia, for the bloc to expand national currency settlements and lending to counter the US' weaponization of the dollar.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said in a welcome address to BRICS Business Forum participants on Wednesday that the issue of creating an international reserve currency based on a basket of currencies is under review, Russian news agency TASS reported.
"The BRICS and other interested nations need to talk about setting up their own independent global financial system - whether it would be based on the Chinese currency or they will agree on something different. They need to debate this," Sergey Storchak, chief banker of Russian bank VEB.RF, told the Global Times in a video interview on Tuesday.
Storchak said that he hopes during China's presidency of this year's BRICS summit, member countries have open discussions on what really needs to be done.
VEB.RF is a major financial development institution in Russia that has been excluded from the SWIFT system.
There has been an ongoing discussion within the BRICS to accelerate payments in national currencies for years, and the need is becoming particularly urgent after the US removed some Russian banks from the SWIFT global interbank payments system and forced other economies to pay for its economic problems with sizeable financial tightening.
"If the voices of emerging markets are not being heard in the coming years, we need to think very seriously about setting up a parallel regional system, or maybe a global system," he said.
The impact of being pushed out of the SWIFT system is quite large, Storchak said. "The biggest issue is the transfer of money and information, and we need to come to the issue of the wide utilization of national currencies. It would mean that we would not need to use the banking system of either the US or the EU," he said.
Such calls for an independent payment system are growing within the BRICS.
Marco Fernandes, a Brazil researcher at the Tricontinental Institute for Social Research, also called on the BRICS to focus on creating an alternative to the US dollar's hegemony in global transactions at a conference at the Chongyang Institute for Financial Studies of the Renmin University of China on Tuesday.
"After confiscating tens of billions of dollars in reserves and assets from countries like Iran, Venezuela and Afghanistan, the seizure by the US and the EU of more than $300 billion of Russia's reserves, triggered a global alert, reaffirming the urgency of alternatives to the dollar's dominance," Fernandes said.
Analysts noted that the US' increasing use of the dollar as a political weapon in recent years - through sanctions or conditional loans - prompts countries to seek other currencies for commercial transactions and in the composition of their foreign reserves.
To shrug off pressure from the US to join in its sanctions against Russia, India was exploring the possibility of using the Chinese yuan as a reference currency in an India-Russia payment settlement mechanism for its oil trade with Russia, Indian news outlet Livemint reported in May.
In addition, former Kremlin economic adviser Sergey Glazyev has proposed a new global financial system - via an association between the Eurasian Economic Union and China - that would be underpinned by digital currency and backed by a basket of new foreign currencies and natural resources of the member countries, according to website The Cradle, which mainly covers West Asian geopolitics.
Cao Heping, an economist at Peking University, said that there are other bilateral or multilateral global settlement systems for cross-border financial services, including China's Cross-border Interbank Payment System (CIPS).
The CIPS processed around 80 trillion yuan ($11.91 trillion) in 2021, up more than 75 percent year-on-year. According to data from SWIFT, the yuan retained its position as the fifth most active currency for global payments by value in April, with a share of 2.14 percent.
Cao suggested that BRICS members step up cooperation in investment and financing in major sectors such as strategic emerging industries and digital innovation in a bid to boost the use of local currencies in trade and investment settlement.
BRICS countries are an important driving force for regional and global economic and trade growth. Despite the prolonged impact of COVID-19, the total volume of trade in goods of BRICS countries reached nearly $8.55 trillion in 2021, up 33.4 percent year-on-year, official data showed.
The bloc accounts for 18 percent of trade in goods and 25 percent of foreign investment globally, statistics show.
"Along with the development of the mobile internet, digital payment has also become a tool for cross-border transactions. More opportunities are expected in this regard," Cao said.
It is important that we pursue development in real earnest and promote development in concert, build an open world economy, and shape a global governance system and institutional environment that are more just and equitable: Xi
