MIRI – SMK Bakun, whose students come from a settlement near the Bakun Dam in central Sarawak, has been placed under lockdown after a teacher tested positive for Covid-19.
The school is located adjacent to the Sg Asap resettlement scheme in Hulu Rajang, about 300km inland from Bintulu town.
Hulu Rajang PKR division head Abun Sui told reporters here today that students staying in the school hostel and staff living in teachers’ quarters are not allowed to leave.
“Health authorities have issued a notice notifying locals that SMK Bakun is under lockdown for decontamination and Covid-19 screening, and that nobody is allowed to leave the school.
“A teacher living in the teachers’ quarters has been found positive for Covid-19. Health authorities sent an ambulance team to transport the teacher to Bintulu Hospital.
“We have advised locals living in the Sg Asap resettlement scheme and surrounding longhouses not to go to the school.
“Those still on school grounds must be screened (for the virus), as they are all close contacts of the infected teacher.”
The state Disaster Management Committee confirmed a coronavirus case in the area yesterday, but did not specify that it involved SMK Bakun.
Abun said health teams are already at the school.
“It is said that the (infected) teacher travelled to Sibu recently, before going back to SMK Bakun.”
The school was built more than 20 years ago, catering to a population of 15,000 Bakun folk who were relocated from the dam region.
It has some 1,500 students. – The Vibes, February 14, 2021
