SIBU, Sept 2: A total of 231,348 (91.6 pct) of the eligible population here have been received their first Covid-19 vaccine dose as of yesterday.
As for those getting their second dose, the number was 223,825 people or 88.6 pct of the eligible population.
Sibu Division Health Officer, Dr Teh Jo Hun speaking at a press conference via Zoom today said that due to the high rate of vaccination, the town is ready to start isolation of certain low risk cases (Categories 1 and 2) at home.
“This is consistent with what is being practised in Kuching and other parts of Malaysia for the past few months,” he said.
He explained that the criteria for home isolation is very strict and a careful assessment by doctors at the Covid-19 Assessment Centre (CAC) will be carried out before patients are allowed to take up home isolation.
The patients will be monitored by doctors regularly as well as given home surveillance orders (HSOs) and wrist bands.
“Some medications are available at the CAC should symptomatic treatment be needed. Not all positive patients in Category 1 or 2 will be allowed to undergo home isolation,” he said.
Dr Teh said those on home quarantine need to adhere to all the advice and instructions given by doctors to ensure their safety as well as that of their family and loved ones.
“They should not leave their quarantine house and should notify the doctors in charge of them if they become sickly or have trouble breathing. Some may be lent a home monitoring tool such as a portable pulse oximeter and we hope they will use it and look after it well and return it once they finish their quarantine,” he said.
In case of emergency, the public may contact Sibu Hospital (084-343 333, extension 1162) for ambulance services. For other enquiries, they may contact the Sibu Hospital Covid-19 helpline at 084-348676.
For positive cases under home isolation (CAC), they may contact 019-8987642 (during office hours) or 019-7074365/019-7074391.
“We implore those without real emergency to give priority to those who are experiencing emergency and may need to urgently contact these numbers,” Dr Teh said.
He also advised the public to search for information and updates on Covid-19 on the Ministry of Health website at https://covid-19.moh.gov.my/ or the Sarawak Disaster Info Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/SarawakDisasterInfo before calling the above numbers so as to avoid congesting the lines.
On self-testing using the rapid antigen saliva test kit, he warned that this kit is very sensitive and false positives may occur.
“A PCR confirmatory test will be required to confirm its result. Therefore, those who come to our health facility with a positive rapid antigen saliva test kit will be swabbed or given appointment to swab for PCR, as well as a wrist band and HSO,” he said.
Sibu Divisional Disaster Management Committee, he added, is seeking for the co-operation and patience of residents to adhere to standard operating procedures (SOPs) such as face-mask usage, physical and social distancing and to seek early treatment if unwell.
Meanwhile he said the current indicators for the National Recovery Plan Phase 3 for Sibu is still being maintained. — DayakDaily
