MIRI – Tougher standards will be imposed on the key performance indexes (KPIs) for the police and local councils throughout Sarawak in relation to their enforcement of standard operating procedures (SOPs) to prevent Covid-19 transmission.
Sarawak Local Government and Housing Minister Datuk Dr Sim Kui Hian said there is an urgent need for these enforcement agencies to be sterner and more effective in dealing with those who violate SOPs.
“The poor enforcement of SOPs on the ground is a major weakness we (state authorities) have identified among these enforcement agencies in this war against Covid-19 in Sarawak,” he said in his daily social media discussion today.
“We are drawing up higher and tougher standards of KPIs on the police and local councils. These new KPIs to be introduced will measure how effective they are in their ground enforcement duties against SOPs-breakers.”
However, Dr Sim acknowledged that many among the public have not been cooperating, blatantly disobeying the many SOPs that are in place. “No matter how wide the enforcement is, if the public keeps on breaking SOPs, we will still see infections surge.”
The minister warned that the already high death rate and rate of infections in Sarawak look set to worsen in the coming days and weeks, adding that poor enforcement has contributed to local transmissions spreading unchecked.
He added that Covid-19 infections have been spread by coronavirus carriers in the state – whose numbers continue to surge daily, and not just confined to a single district but also across several – before they can even be detected and roped in for treatment.
“There is evidence to show that inter-district infections are still rising, with more and more districts seeing surges in infections.
“There is also evidence of people in Sarawak travelling despite an ongoing curb on inter-district and inter-division travelling; thus, Covid-19 is still spreading across districts and across divisions.”
Dr Sim said Sarawak is seeing sustained transmissions among communities in cities, towns, rural villages, and longhouses.
In January, the state Disaster Management Committee (DMC) had already told the police to impose tighter travel restrictions between districts in Sarawak.
Unfortunately, although the police were warned not to be too lax when it came to issuing permits to travel across district boundaries, they have done the exact opposite, said DMC chairman Datuk Douglas Uggah.
“We want the police to be stricter in enforcing travel movement restrictions. We must impose stricter measures with regard to issuing travel permits, especially involving the Covid-19 red zones,” he had said.
The death toll from the Covid-19 pandemic in Sarawak is at 146 as of yesterday, with more than 23,000 positive cases statewide. – The Vibes, April 23, 2021
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