GEORGE TOWN – Penang Welfare, Caring Society and Environment exco Phee Boon Poh has hit out at the Health Ministry (MoH) for shooting down the state government’s suggestions to handle the Covid-19 outbreak here.
Questions remain on how to curtail the outbreak, especially as Penang’s two city councils both reported 99% public compliance with standard operating procedures (SOPs), and Phee lamented what he alleged was the cold shoulder by MoH on a testing regimen that would help curb the outbreak.
“I have suggested using antibody tests as it is cheap, but it was not approved. We then suggested pooling, where five people can be put together for one polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test, but that suggestion was also dismissed.
“Now I will do what I can do in helping communities to boost their immune system,” he said.
Pointing to how the virus hit several old folks homes in Penang earlier this month, Phee said efforts were taken to boost the immune system of the seniors.
This included serving the homes’ residents an immune-boosting herbal tea concoction every weekend.
“In 13 days, the cluster was cleared,” Phee told The Vibes.
Meanwhile, Datuk Jimmy Ong, chairman of Federation of Malaysian Manufacturers’ (FMM) Penang chapter, said that the spread in Penang is wider now as compared to a few months ago when most infections were concentrated in a few factories.
He said most of the cases in the state now are actually due to labourers going out, contracting the virus and bringing it back to their dormitories.
Now, he hopes that the state will request that these workers are prioritised for the vaccination so the infection rate can be lowered.
The virus’ spread at the workplace remains front and centre as there are 11 clusters to reckon with.
Last Saturday, cases in the state reached an alarming level with 328 new infections, including 206 cases at the Juru immigration detention centre.
Yesterday, 53 out of 205 new infections in Penang stemmed from the depot.
Infections from workplace screenings, meanwhile, topped the chart with 70 yesterday. – The Vibes, March 22, 2021
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