MIRI – Strict crowd control measures must be put in place immediately to stop the spread of Covid-19 in Sarawak, said Tg Batu assemblyman Chiew Ching Sing, after supermarket clusters emerged in two districts in the state in just two days.
Chiew’s constituency is in Bintulu, where a coronavirus outbreak linked to a supermarket was recorded on Monday.
Chiew told The Vibes that this is a worrying development as supermarkets cater to hundreds – even thousands – of people daily.
The affected supermarket – now sealed off – is in a new commercial hub, which attracts a large number of office employees and factory workers.
“Alarm bells must be sounded immediately should any outbreak occur in places like supermarkets,” Chiew said.
“Supermarkets can be filled with people, especially after office or school hours, as people rush to buy groceries and necessities.
“I have noticed that shoppers often forget to observe social distancing. In their rush to select vegetables and other items, they stand too close to one another.
“The danger of mega clusters is real if there is an asymptomatic Covid-19 patient out and about.
“All it needs is a sneeze or careless bodily contact.”
He calls on local and health authorities to enforce a reduced-capacity rule in supermarkets.
“The health teams are doing decontamination rounds. They are also checking customer registration records to determine who went to the (affected) supermarket recently, as well as screening the staffers and their close contacts.”
He added that it is a daunting task as many customers visit that supermarket every day.
Yesterday, a large supermarket inside a multistorey departmental store in Sibu was the site of a new Covid-19 cluster.
The Jalan Sanyan cluster logged 19 infections among its staffers.
The supermarket is popular with officer workers and school students.
As of yesterday, Sarawak was the state with the second highest number of new daily cases. It has a death toll of 94 and more than 12,000 cases. – The Vibes, March 17, 2021
