MIRI – Sarawak may need to tighten entry restrictions to stop the “import” of highly infectious Covid-19 variants such as Delta, the first case of which was recorded yesterday.
State Housing and Local Government Minister Datuk Dr Sim Kui Hian acknowledged that tougher precautionary measures may cause more inconveniences.
Besides Delta, the state has also seen the Alpha, Beta, Eta and Theta variants, he said.
“The first Delta case has already been logged in Sarawak. It is inevitable, just a matter of time, as Sarawak is not isolated from the rest of Malaysia.
“Whatever policies and ‘inconvenient’ measures we have to put in place, we must protect Sarawak.
“We need time to prepare our resources, such as ICU beds, vaccines and so on, to have a head start.”
In his social media chats today, he called for understanding and cooperation from Sarawakians within and outside the state to protect the population from more coronavirus variants.
Dr Sim, who is also adviser to the state Disaster Management Committee (DMC), was commenting on the disclosure yesterday by Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas) that a 56-year-old man in Kuching was found positive for the Delta variant.
He thanked Prof Dr David Pereira and the team from Unimas’ Health and Community Medicine Institute for working with the state DMC on conducting genomics surveillance on samples taken from various PCR swab tests in the state.
“Many labs can do PCR testing, but only a select few in Malaysia can do genomics testing.
“PCR tests are done daily, but genomics tests are carried out on scheduled dates.”
He reminded people of the importance of increasing personal protections and obeying all standard operating procedures against the virus. – The Vibes, July 9, 2021
