MIRI – Sarawak will be imposing tighter measures at its border entry points in light of the recent surge of the Covid-19 Delta variant among its population.
Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Awang Tengah Ali Hasan said in a statement that the state government is very concerned with the latest trend of the Delta variant in the state.
“The Delta variant is spreading fast in Sarawak. We will be tightening measures to govern entries into Sarawak via air, land, and sea routes.
“People should not travel to other districts yet,” he said today, according to the state government’s official public information channel Sarawak Public Communication Unit.
Tengah added that Delta and other variants need to be tackled even as the vaccination drive continues throughout Sarawak.
The foreign variants of Covid-19 found in Sarawak – including the very infectious Delta variant – are still evolving, warned another state minister.
State Housing and Local Government Minister Datuk Dr Sim Kui Hian said that the new foreign variants are still in their early stages of infection in the state.
He also noted that the variants will continue to mutate as they spread.
“The variants are still new to Sarawak. They are in the early stages of transmission and are still evolving.
“That is why we have to keep a very close watch and enhance and tighten our standard operating procedures accordingly to deal with Covid-19 and its variants as they evolve,” he told reporters earlier during an event at Sarawak General Hospital in Kuching.
However, Dr Sim, an adviser to the State Disaster Management Committee, pointed out that it is not practical to stop all flights into Sarawak as a total lockdown is no longer a viable strategy, seeing that the coronavirus is here to stay.
“We cannot cut ourselves off from the world totally.”
Miri MP Dr Teo Yu Keng yesterday said the Sarawak government needs to press the panic button immediately, as latest Health Ministry figures show Sarawak with 152 cases of mutated variants as of July 22, 93 of them being of the Delta strain.
The Sarawak PKR vice-president said that Sarawak is the top state nationwide in terms of case numbers for Delta and several other variants.
“Close our borders now, and get ready for more local transmission of these variants,” he had told The Vibes.
Dr Teo said the latest figures from the ministry shows Sarawak to be way ahead of Selangor in second place in terms of number of variants of concern.
“We are most fearful about the Delta variant, and shockingly, Sarawak has the greatest number of Delta cases, much higher than even Selangor.
“The only defence Sarawak has now is its Covid-19 vaccines, but even in Europe and Israel, vaccines like Pfizer have proven to not be really effective in stopping Delta.
“The Delta cases in Europe and Israel have surged. We are seeing a similar pattern in Sarawak now,” he said.
Dr Teo said only three weeks ago, the number of Delta cases in Sarawak was 17 and as of July 22, there are 93 Delta cases, with 92 local transmission and one from a foreigner.
He shared Tengah’s sentiments that there must be a statewide shutdown at all border entry and exit points to prevent the virus from spreading even further.
“Stop all incoming people from land, sea and air. And prepare medicines like ivermectin,” he said.
Sarawak also has 44 local Beta carriers and one foreign one, 13 local Theta patients, and one foreign Eta carrier.
Selangor in second place has 74 variant-of-concern cases, 17 of these of the Delta strain. – The Vibes, July 25, 2021
