By Karen Bong
MUKAH, Aug 28: Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob’s announcement yesterday of his 69-member Cabinet including eight from Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) has been welcomed by Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg.
“There is no problem for Sarawak. What’s important is a stable government especially during this Covid-19 pandemic times.
“(This is so that we can) move forward fast to tackle the pandemic and ensure developments can continue,” he told a press conference after launching the Centexs Mukah Campus and Oil Palm and Agriculture Academy at the site here today.
The four GPS lawmakers appointed full ministers are Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Parliament and Law) Datuk Seri Dr Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar; Minister of Works Datuk Seri Fadillah Yusof; Minister of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Datuk Seri Alexander Nanta Linggi and Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture Datuk Seri Nancy Shukri.
The Deputy Ministers are Dato Hanifah Taib (Sabah and Sarawak Affairs), Dato Henry Sum Agong (Transport), Datuk Aaron Ago Dagang (Health) and Datuk Hasbi Habibollah (Rural Development).
Abang Johari emphasised that the focus on Covid-19 vaccination for the people must continue and gladly, Sarawak has achieved a high vaccination coverage with more than 80 per cent of the eligible population now fully vaccinated.
However, he also noted that the daily figure of Covid-19 cases had been on the high side in Sarawak despite the high immunisation rate due to the highly transmissible and dangerous Delta variant.
“But, the majority of the cases reported are under Category 1 and 2 which are without or mild symptoms.
“This indicates that vaccination has a positive impact especially to significantly reduce the number of deaths and intensive care unit (ICU) hospitalisations as more lives can be saved,” he explained.
On a question, Abang Johari said a team of experts under the Sarawak Covid-19 Vaccine Advisory Group (SCoVAG) led by Prof Datu Dr Andrew Kiyu is looking into vaccination especially for young people.
“I was made to understand that the situation is under control as (studies have found that) the vaccines have an efficacy to control the Covid-19 which is likely to become endemic like flu,” he added.
While Sarawak government and the health authorities will continue to refine its strategies to fight the Covid-19, Abang Johari again reminded that Sarawak is still not out of the woods yet and as such, the people must continue to be vigilant and comply with all safety and precautionary measures to protect themselves and the community.
Minister of Education, Science and Technological Research Datuk Amar Michael Manyin Jawong; Minister of Welfare, Community Well Being, Women, Family and Childhood Development Datuk Seri Fatimah Abdullah; Assistant Minister of Law, State-Federal Relations and Project Monitoring Datuk Sharifah Hasidah Sayeed Aman Ghazali and Centexs chairman Tan Sri Mohamad Morshidi Abdul Ghani were among those present.— DayakDaily
