GEORGE TOWN – A Malaysian Association of Hotels’ (MAH) executive has called on the state government to consider allowing some hotels to offer rooms for those ordered to be home-quarantined because they are Covid-19 positive or close contacts.
Although Penang has declared that hotels here will no longer offer quarantine services, MAH vice-president Khoo Boo Lim said that there is still a demand.
The country will reopen its international borders by next month and with tourism returning to its normalcy in stages, Covid-19 infection rates remain a prevailing factor, Khoo concluded.
Despite the cases being mild in terms of its symptoms, the fact is that infections continue to soar.
He told The Vibes that not many people liked to be home-quarantined because of fears that they may reinfect or infect their families staying under the same roof.
Hence, outside of the public quarantine centres where social amenities are limited for the initial period of seven days in self-isolation, Khoo said that some people prefer to be confined to hotel rooms where catered food and entertainment is widely available.
Khoo, therefore, hoped that the state will consider if some hotels can opt to continue offering quarantine services.
“It may not be ideal because conventional guests may not like staying in a property which offers quarantine services. But if we can segregate the guests from those who are under quarantine, it is workable.”
Perhaps the hotels have a separate access area and those in quarantine are placed in floors far from those uninfected guests, said Khoo.
He was responding to reports that Penang will no longer offer hotels which are converted into quarantine centres here.
State Tourism and Creative Economy Committee chairman Yeoh Soon Hin told journalists here that hotels, which were previously transformed into Low Risk Covid-19 Quarantine and Treatment Centre (PKRC), are now back in regular business as home isolation is now permitted for Covid-19 positive patients.
Also the public-run PKRCs are sufficient to accommodate patients. Penang previously had five hotels which became PKRC centres.
“There are three government-run PKRCs in Penang which are Mara Education Center (MEC) Jawi, Kompleks Masyarakat Penyayang, and the Blok Pergigian Hospital Pulau Pinang.”
The occupancy rate at MEC is 34%, while the occupancy rate at Kompleks Masyarakat Penyayang and Blok Pergigian Hospital Pulau Pinang remains at 0%.
Up to 96.7% of Penang’s 18,059 active cases are ordered to be home-quarantined, as they are mostly Category 1 or Category 2 cases – which present mild symptoms.
However, the number of deaths continues to edge up to 2,000 with 1,853 deaths as of this morning with three additional deaths yesterday.
Khoo also hoped that the Finance Ministry will offer moratoriums and rebates from Tenaga Nasional Bhd to help hotels weather the record losses they have suffered due to the adverse effects of the pandemic.
On top of the financial challenges made worse by an acute shortage of workers and rising inflation as well as a sluggish services sector due to the long-term adverse effects on the economy, Khoo said that more aid needs to be injected into the tourism sector. – The Vibes, March 12, 2022
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