GEORGE TOWN – Alerting Penangites on the existence of 15 active Covid-19 clusters in the state, Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow has called on people to brace for new policies to be imposed by the authorities in a bid to control the rising pandemic.
He said the government wants to bring about a “balance” in the various sectors amid the restrictions that are in place.
In particular, the state is concerned about ensuring that its manufacturing sector, which is a mainstay of the local economy, is able to ride through the storm of the pandemic.
The state, he said, has called on the International Trade and Industry Ministry (Miti) to detail the development of the new Safe@Work programme among the manufacturing sector and other relevant industries.
“Sharing the data until yesterday, the Penang Health Department had informed that there are 15 active clusters in the state now,” he said in a statement.
“Eight involve the manufacturing sector, three are in the education sector, two in the social sectors, and there is one each in the detention centres.
“Based on the current situation, several important decisions are expected to be announced in the near future to balance not only the health and economic sectors, but also the current social and sports sectors,” he said.
The chief minister said people need to be cautious although the R-naught estimate for Penang is 0.99, which is among the lowest among the states compared to the national rate of 1.12.
He reminded people to take precautions and continue with strict adherence to the standard operating procedures.
Chow added that although any new restrictions will be unpopular as they would limit public movement, the government has decided that all citizens in Penang must remain safe.
He said that as proposed by the Health Ministry in the special meeting of the National Security Council (NSC) yesterday, the management of Covid-19 will see increased use of digital technology to anticipate cluster events.
Emphasising the importance of “machine learning” methods, he said that a feature called Hotspot Identification for Dynamic Engagement in the MySejahtera application, which helps to identify locations that have potential to become clusters, will be used in the latest approach in tackling the pandemic.
On the education cluster, he expressed hope that the state Education Department and NSC can collaborate closely in identifying close contacts and tightening “gatekeeping” in every educational institution in the state.
Meanwhile, the Bukit Mertajam district land office has reported a few positive cases among its staff and its premise will be closed temporarily for sanitisation. – The Vibes, April 29, 2021
