Let’s keep calm and carry on, shall we?

That’s all a citizen can do in the face of political shenanigans and viruses.

BY this time, dear reader, I am most likely wandering the streets of Fukuoka, Japan, after my red-eye flight from KLIA2 last night.

I am also most likely in search of a cafe with WiFi so that I can grab breakfast and get updated on the latest political developments.

Over the last several days, we Malaysians witnessed what must be the craziest political cloak-and-dagger stuff and the resulting fallout ever seen in our country’s history.

We have all read the conspiracy theories as to who is doing what and frankly, at this point, nothing has been really confirmed.

But once again, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad seems to have outwitted everyone and flattened those who tried to corner him. For now, a kind of calm has returned but whether a monstrous storm is coming, well, we the people can only wait and see.

Under Article 43 (2)(a) of the Federal Constitution, the Yang di-Pertuan Agong shall appoint a member of the House of Representatives (Dewan Rakyat) as Prime Minister to preside over the Cabinet who, in his judgement, is likely to command the confidence of the majority of the members of that House.

Exactly when this new prime minister must be appointed is not clear. I asked constitutional law expert Datuk Shad Saleem Faruqi and he confirmed the Constitution doesn’t specify a time for that.

He added that the King plays the pivotal role of filling the vacancy. So we just have to sit tight and see what is decided.

Beyond this, I have little to add because much has already been said about the situation and I am not privy to any special insights that I can share.

What I do want to say is, although the current political situation is unprecedented for us, we should stay calm. No point in gnashing our teeth in fear and frustration.

Instead, we could take comfort in the experience of other countries that were “government-less”.

In my column published on Nov 2,2016, titled Voting out democracy, I shared that in Spain, after two rounds of national elections,

no party won enough votes to form the government or forge a coalition, which left the country without a federal government for 10 months.Belgium too had a similar crisis in 2010 and didn’t have a government for one and a half years. Despite all the predictions of doom and disaster, both nations “pottered along quite happily without that firm smack of government” during that time, reported Forbes.

Of course, the timing of our political derring-do is rather bad with the economy being battered by the Covid-19 outbreak.

But I still maintain that the best thing to do for an ordinary citizen is keep calm and carry on.

And that’s why I am in the Land of the Rising Sun. My friends and I decided to carry on with our trip.

Yes, we were concerned, but while there were infection cases in Tokyo, none has been reported in Fukuoka, a city on the northern shore of Kyushu island.

Are we being foolhardy? Perhaps. We are after all mature ladies in our late 50s and early 60s and are on the slightly high side of risk of death if we fell ill with Covid-19.

Still, we are all in good health and we are taking all the possible precautions, mainly packing surgical masks and hand sanitisers with us. Frankly, I am not too worried about catching the virus in Fukuoka but I am wary of the airports and the flights.

While the entire world is obsessed with Covid-19, I do wonder how we all seemed to have forgotten the virus we were grappling with earlier.

Influenza A was what hogged the headlines in January. A doctor, in questioning the Health Ministry’s lack of preparedness, wrote to The Star about the “avalanche of influenza cases” and how “people are running from hospital to private clinic to health centres in a frantic search for the flu vaccine only to be turned away with the standard ‘Sorry, no stock’ reply.”

It was so bad that the Education Ministry ordered the temporary closure of schools in several states, including Penang and Selangor, after students there tested positive for Influenza A.

Doctors and the public were clamouring for flu shots and on Jan 18, then-Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Dzulkefly Ahmad said 200,000 influenza vaccine doses would be brought in within that month and the next, meaning February.

Well, there is less than a week left of February and my GP couldn’t get any supply to give me a shot nor could any of the Klang Valley hospitals he contacted.

So what happened to the 200,000 promised doses? Lots of people are still falling ill with the flu, although the incidence rate is most likely dropping, thanks to the precautions the public is taking to avoid Covid-19. That’s just my take because there has been no news or updates on the flu situation.

And that’s a pity because while Covid-19 has infected more than 78,000 illnesses and 2,000 deaths, mainly in China, livescience.com points out that’s nothing compared with the flu.

It adds, “In the US alone, the flu has already caused an estimated 26 million illnesses, 250,000 hospitalisations and 14,000 deaths this season, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).”

But what has unnerved doctors and scientists and has thrown governments and ordinary folk into a state of panic is the newness of Covid-19.

That’s because while there’s a “certainty” of seasonal flu, says National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases director Dr Anthony Fauci, who told a White House press conference on Jan 31 that he could guarantee “that as we get into March and April, the flu cases are going to go down” and “predict pretty accurately what the range of the mortality is and the hospitalisations (will be), ” that is not the case with Covid-19 which has a lot of unknowns.

What is known, says livescience.com, is that from the largest study on Covid-19 so far, researchers from the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Protection, analysed 44,672 confirmed cases in China between Dec 31,2019 and Feb 11,2020 and found 80.9% (or 36,160 cases) were considered mild, 13.8% (6,168 cases) severe and 4.7% (2,087) critical with the latter exhibiting “respiratory failure, septic shock, and/or multiple/dysfunction/failure”.

I find that quite reassuring and it gives me confidence that my friends and I made the right choice to travel. Hopefully so, anyway.

Hopefully too, Covid-19 is like the flu virus and will die down when the temperatures rise in spring, and scientists will develop a vaccine for it.

In the meantime – actually, all the time – we should follow CDC and the World Health Organisation’s recommendations to prevent the spread of coronaviruses and flu viruses:

1. Don’t sneeze or cough into your hands, aim for your inner elbow or armpit;

2. Wash your hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds;

3. Avoid touching your eyes, nose and mouth with unwashed hands;

4. Avoid close contact with people who are sick;

5. Stay home when you are sick; and

6. Clean and disinfect frequently touched objects and surfaces.

I intend to do all that (for No. 5, I will stay in my hotel room) while in Fukuoka. As for frequently touched objects, I will, sumimasen, elbow and toe my way through.

Aunty wishes she could stay away from toxic politicians who make a lot of people sick to their stomach!