MIRI – The Sarawak state government must provide a full explanation why it is one of the country’s worst-performing states in its management of Covid-19 pandemic, said Sarawak Pakatan Harapan chairman Chong Chieng Jen.
Chong said that notwithstanding that the state has one of the highest vaccination rates in the country, it still has the highest number of new infection cases in the country.
“The state also has one of the highest ICU occupancy rates in the country.
“All these top-ranking numbers cannot be reconciled with the claim by the state government that we are doing well with the management of the pandemic.
“If vaccination truly works, why do we still have such a high number of cases and why are there still so many Covid-19 patients admitted to ICUs compared with other states in the country?
“What makes the matter worse is that the reported positive figures for the last few weeks are likely to understate the actual situation on the ground because since September, the state government has adopted the new policy of not doing any testing on close contacts with no symptoms.”
Chong said that with such deliberate reduced testing, one would have expected the positive cases to drop drastically.
“Yet, Sarawak remains the state with the highest number of new positive Covid-19 cases for most days in September. The question that all Sarawakians are asking is ‘What has gone wrong?’,” he said in a statement.
Today saw 2,723 new infections statewide and 19 confirmed coronavirus deaths bringing the fatality toll to 778.
Kuching recorded nine fatalities involving women aged 73, 77, 79, 82 and 87 as well as men aged 67, 75, 79, and 92.
Deaths in Sibu involved two women aged 64 and 73 and a 64-year-old man while three deaths in Sri Aman involved women aged 73, 77, and 84.
The other deaths were in Serian involving a 47-year-old man, a Bintulu man aged 67 and two Sarikei women aged 41 and 74.
Out of the 2,723 new cases, Kuching recorded 888, Samarahan 249, Miri 249, Sibu 228, and several other districts below 200 each.
The state Disaster Management Committee, in a press statement, said that southern Sarawak joined the rest of the state in entering Phase 3 of the National Recovery Plan in October. – The Vibes, September 27, 2021
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