By Adrian Lim
KUCHING, Mar 19: The State Disaster Management Committee has identified three additional venues as quarantine centres for Covid-19 on top of Sarawak General Hospital (SGH) and the Sarawak Public Health College.
This was revealed by State Disaster Management Committee chairman Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas during a visit to one of the three new quarantine centres to check on the facilities there today.
He said they were the Institut Kemajuan Desa, Institut Tadbiran Awam Negara Sarawak (INTAN) and Tun Abdul Razak Campus Teacher’s Training College.
He stated that the Institut Kemajuan Desa would be ready in three days’ time.
“We need them in the event we have spillover from SGH and the Sarawak Public Health College.
“At the same time, I would like to assure the people in their vicinity that we only send the person under investigation (PUI) cases there, not the positive ones,” Uggah who is Deputy Chief Minister said in a statement.
Uggah said all the centres would be guarded around the clock by security personnel and would be completely out of bounds to the public.
On another matter, Uggah said the Fever Triage for Covid -19 clinic would be operational at the Dewan Belia dan Sukan Kuching beginning tomorrow from 9am onwards.
With one new positive Covid-19 case reported today, the total number of positive cases has been brought up to 51 in Sarawak since March 13 when the very first three cases were detected.
The state has recorded a total of 683 PUI cases, 292 of which have tested negative while 340 are awaiting laboratory tests.
Uggah stated that close to 75 per cent of the cases in Peninsular Malaysia are related to the gathering at the Masjid Jamek in Sri Petaling, Selangor.
“In Sarawak, most of the cases are imported ones, which means they have the same DNA. It is for this reason that one of the preventive measures is for people to avoid crowded places and why the Movement Control Order is now coming into force,” he said, advising those with fever, coughing or respiratory difficulty to go to the nearest health department or hospital for screening.
He stressed the need for stringent personal hygiene like frequently washing hands with soap and water, using hand sanitisers, practise social distancing and to avoid crowded places.
“Do stay away from those showing symptoms of infection,” he said, advising people against rushing home to their longhouses or villages in the rural areas and risk spreading the Covid-19 disease further.
Uggah also reminded those who needed to observe the 14-day home quarantine to fulfil their commitment. —DayakDaily
