MIRI – The number of Covid-19 infections in Sarawak continues to rise daily due to the poor enforcement of policies drawn up to curb the spread of the coronavirus.
State Local Government and Housing Minister Datuk Dr Sim Kui Hian said latest information from the state Health Department’s teams on the ground shows high transmission of Covid-19 taking place not just in localities within a district but also across districts.
He said transmission was happening even before carriers could be detected and roped in for treatment – and despite an ongoing restriction on inter-district and inter-division travel.
In his social media updates today on the latest Covid-19 situation in Sarawak, Sim said it was obvious there is still poor enforcement on the ground.
“Latest statistics compiled by the health and medical teams show that infected carriers still manage to travel around, thereby spreading the Covid-19 coronavirus all over.
“There is also evidence to show that inter-district infections are also rising. More and more districts are seeing surges of infections,” he said.
He added that infected people have been found to be travelling from virus-hit districts to clean ones.
Sim cited a case where an index case transmitted the virus across three districts before he or she could be detected.
“This carrier had infected 72 people by the time the person was detected,” he said.
Sim said Sarawak is seeing sustained transmission among the communities in cities and towns, and rural villages and longhouses.
“I am not finger-pointing but it is obvious there must be more serious enforcement on the ground of all the policies in place that are meant to stop the infection spread,” he stressed.
The State Disaster Management Committee had told the police last month to impose tighter travel restrictions between districts in Sarawak.
The committee wanted the police to not be too relaxed in issuing permits to travel across district boundaries.
Committee chairman Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas had said that the police have been issuing too many cross-district travel permits.
“We want police to be more strict in enforcing travel movement restrictions.
“We must impose stricter measures with regard to issuing travel permits especially involving the Covid-19 red zones,” he had said.
The death toll from the Covid-19 pandemic in Sarawak is at 101 as of yesterday, with more than 15,000 positive cases statewide. – The Vibes, March 28, 2021
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