MIRI – Sarawakians are urging the state Disaster Management Committee (DMC) to declare the movement control order (MCO) ahead of the panel’s scheduled meeting later today on the matter.
Committee chairman Datuk Douglas Uggah Embas is expected to announce this afternoon whether Sarawak will follow Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin’s directive on a national lockdown starting tomorrow.
Netizen Johnny Jongu said Uggah must realise that the MCO is the sole recourse to halt the state’s spike in Covid-19 infections and deaths.
“The ICUs (intensive care units) at Sarawak hospitals cannot cope anymore with the constant surge in critical-stage patients.
“That statement (from state Health Department director Dr Chin Zin Hing yesterday) should be enough to convince the state DMC that a full MCO is the only hope to control Covid-19 in Sarawak,” he said today in his social media chats with Bandar Kuching MP Dr Kelvin Yii.
Another social media user, Nigel Tan, said the Sarawak government must be decisive and strict on the issue, and that state leaders should learn from those in the New Zealand administration.
“New Zealand was very effective in curbing Covid-19 due to its decisiveness in locking down the country very fast.
“The people also obeyed all the measures put in place by their government during the lockdown.
“That was why the spread of Covid-19 was quickly brought under control in New Zealand.”
Dr Yii, from the state DAP, expressed frustration with the state DMC’s handling of the coronavirus crisis.
“What we really need is decisive and consistent leadership.
“Again, I question the need for the state DMC to wait to have another meeting to decide whether we will have the MCO here in Sarawak.
“It is ironic that the PM has made an announcement that there will be a nationwide MCO, but Sabah then came out to say they won’t follow it, and possibly Sarawak also, when they are all in the same government.
“The confusion and conflicting announcements are hurting people and businesses.
I think businesses and the public are suffering more from the flip-flops, inconsistencies and last-minute announcements rather than the MCO itself.
“If it was properly planned, announced and executed in the first place, we wouldn’t be in such a position.”
He said the Sarawak DMC made all sorts of U-turns on conditional MCO standard operating procedures for months, even as Covid-19 cases and deaths climbed.
The virus has claimed 209 lives in Sarawak, with some 36,000 infections recorded statewide. – The Vibes, May 11, 2021
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