MIRI – A student from Bintulu in northern Sarawak, who was confirmed to be positive for the Omicron variant upon his return from overseas, had allegedly broken his quarantine when he went to play basketball with his friends.
Furious with the incident, Bintulu MP Datuk Seri Tiong King Sing has called for a thorough probe by the Health Ministry (MoH).
Tiong, in his social media postings, expressed his anger at the hotel’s apparently lax monitoring and demanded that MoH investigate if the hotel had actually released the youth before his Covid-19 tests results were even acquired.
“There are now two confirmed cases of the Omicron variant in Bintulu.
“One case involves a person returning from Africa, and another entails a student who came back from the United Kingdom.
“Unfortunately, the student had broken quarantine before his test results were released and met up with other people to play basketball.
“I will meet and discuss with the Bintulu Disaster Management Committee about this matter to find out how the quarantine protocols were breached.
“Although it is no longer useful to lay blame on anyone, we must determine why the hotel let the person out.
“I have requested MoH to handle this with caution.
“Potential contacts and patients without symptoms are the biggest challenges we face.
“Therefore, from now onwards, all persons placed in quarantine, especially those returning from abroad, must not be issued a release order before the test results are released, even if they exceed the quarantine period,” he said.
Tiong said although all the identified individuals who came into contact with the student from the UK had been placed in isolation, the authorities remain unable to determine accurately how many more people had been in physical contact with them.
“How many more people have been infected without knowing it?
“We will need to monitor this closely for the sake of our families and all of Bintulu.
“I call on people who have been with the confirmed patient to take the initiative to get tested for coronavirus,” he said.
Tiong said all the passengers who had also embarked on the flights boarded by the two must be identified swiftly.
They must be subjected to tests by the hospital to determine if they had been infected by the two confirmed Omicron carriers, he said.
Tiong said all the quarantine hotels must learn from this and cooperate with the authorities to monitor those under quarantine order.
“Anyone who is quarantined must not be allowed to leave without obtaining the relevant release order.
“Rela personnel must take their duties seriously in this matter, because repeating this mistake can cause far-reaching effects.
“The ministry must thoroughly review this negligent incident and prevent more lapses from happening.
“Over the past year, we have grown weary of fighting the coronavirus.
“Everyone is under a lot of pressure, especially with the disease’s impact on the economy, and sometimes we don’t know what to do next.
“Despite this challenge and the new Omicron threat, it is time to chin up, remain vigilant, and keep precaution to prevent the virus from spreading further,” he said. – The Vibes, December 29, 2021
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