MIRI – The sudden 57% spike in hospital admissions due to Covid-19 infections in the first week of campaigning in the Melaka polls is a warning sign pointing to an even worse scenario in the coming 12th Sarawak election.
Sarawak Pakatan Harapan (PH) deputy chairman Dr Michael Teo Yu Keng told The Vibes today that Health Department statistics on the Melaka Covid-19 surge show that it is not safe having a public election when Covid-19 is still so aggressive in the community.
“I hope the Election Commission (EC) is aware of the serious increase in the hospitalisation rate due to Covid-19 in the ongoing Melaka election.
“During the first week of campaigning in the state, there was an increase in hospital admissions of 57% due to Covid-19 infections. That is a serious increase. Melaka is a very small state compared with Sarawak. Sarawak is as big as the whole of Peninsular Malaysia.
“If the rate of spread in Covid-19 transmissions and hospitalisation of positive cases is so high in a small state like Melaka, I dread to think how many times worse it is going to be in such a big state like Sarawak if we still go ahead with the state elections.
“We must bear in mind that the Delta variant is the dominant Covid-19 strain in Sarawak, which is many times more infectious than the normal Covid-19 strain,” he said.
Dr Teo, who is Miri MP and Sarawak PKR vice-chairman, said it is still not too late for the EC to delay Sarawak polls by not fixing nomination and polling dates as yet.
He noted that the commission is going to hold a meeting in state capital Kuching on November 24 to decide on nomination and polling dates.
“Hold on first, do not fix any date for this month or next month. Please wait first, keep alert for the latest data on the Covid-19 Delta variant cases in Sarawak day by day. Delay the state polls until the last possible date (January 3),” he said.
Dr Teo said Sarawak still high among the highest fatalities due to Covid-19, as well as very high intensive care unit admissions.
Seeing that the dissolution of the state assembly was on November 3, it is still possible to delay the polling date until January 2 or 3, he said. – The Vibes, November 17, 2021
