Premature to step up tourism now THE first case of Covid-19 in Malaysia was detected on Jan 25 last year and the number rose to 22,036 on Oct 20, about nine months later. This works out to an average of 2,448 people tested positive per month. But this figure had been exceeded twice in just one day on Dec 31 with 2,525 cases and again yesterday setting a new record of 2,593. So far, there were 10 days where cases exceeded 2,000 and their combined total is 22,345 – more than the total recorded in the first nine months! At this rate, it would be no surprise that a ban on interstate or even inter-district travel be reimposed to curb the spread of infections.