MIRI – Sarawakians have been warned that they must prepare for a long fight as Covid-19 may become endemic (a persistent disease) here.
State Minister for Housing and Local Government Datuk Dr Sim Kui Hian issued the warning today, stressing that it looks like Covid-19 is not going away from this state anytime soon.
Dr Sim, who is an adviser to the State Disaster Management Committee, made an observation on social media that for the whole of last year, Sarawak had managed to contain Covid-19 but resorted this year to mitigating the results of an out-of-control pandemic.
"After more than a year of the Covid-19 pandemic, Sarawak is no longer in a containment phase as it was the whole of last year, but a mitigation phase now. We need to realise we will need to live with the virus as it becomes endemic, even post-vaccination.
“We need to learn the lessons of the pandemic. We must take responsibility for Covid-19, which is spreading all over, and play our role in trying to stop the spread and mitigate the effects,” he said.
Dr Sim added that it was high time to make public the names of places where Covid-19 is a daily danger so that everyone can be aware of the risk of infections.
The lawmaker vented his frustration that certain businesses are concealing the truth about Covid-19 risks in their premises.
“In times of crisis like now, public interest should supersede privacy. We should name the supermarkets, restaurants, kopitiams, shopping centres, and so on as Covid-19 clusters, instead of naming the roads along these areas.
“There are many with vested business interests claiming their premises do not have Covid-19,” he said.
Dr Sim said people in the longhouses and villages must start working more closely with the relevant agencies like the Health Department, Human Resources Ministry, and his ministry to identify problematic factors fuelling the coronavirus.
“We have to take more drastic steps to make sure infections don’t keep recurring in a particular place,” he said.
As an example, he noted that 83 positive cases were reported by the Kuching Health Department yesterday in Kuching city alone, with infections found within 24 hours.
The minister said seven positive infections were imported from other districts, and three symptomatic cases and 72 close-contact infections in 34 locations all over Kuching.
He said these recurring infections must be overcome if Sarawak is ever to see a sustained decline in infection spread.
There have been 406 deaths and some 64,000 positive infections in the state so far. – The Vibes, June 29, 2021
