MIRI – Some residents in town and longhouses are still refusing to obey directives from health authorities in Covid-19 hotspots in Sarawak.
In Sibu, the state’s worst-hit Covid-19 locality, the local council and police have to work extra hard to get residents to adhere to standard operating procedures (SOPs).
Sibu Municipal Council chairman Clarence Ting said today people are still refusing to adhere to SOPs laid down by the authorities.
“The level of compliance is not optimum. There are still people going out unnecessarily and lingering in the streets.”
Ting again went on his rounds in town to advise people to go home and stay away from public places.
“If we ever want to break the chain of infection, there is no choice but to stay at home,” he said in his message to the Sibu community.
The Sibu division, which comprises the Sibu, Kanowit and Selangau districts, is under MCO while the rest of Sarawak is under conditional MCO.
In Kanowit, police were forced to send patrol teams to native longhouse Rumah Dim when a group of Covid-positive residents refused to obey directives from health teams yesterday.
Kanowit police chief Tega Bilong said 42 people from the longhouse had tested positive for Covid-19.
“The Health Department sent its teams to the longhouse to take these infected people to hospital (Sibu Hospital) for isolation and treatment but they refused to obey.
“They were verbally abusive and threatened the health officers.
“The health teams alerted us and police units were deployed to the longhouse to ensure compliance. The infected residents were later escorted to hospital.”
Kanowit district is now a Covid-19 red zone, along with the Sibu, Kuching and Miri districts.
Tega stressed that the police will not compromise with those who refuse to obey instructions from the Health Department or local council.
Over the past week, seven new fatalities were reported in the state, taking the death toll in Sarawak to 26 as of yesterday evening. – The Vibes, January 24, 2021
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