KUCHING, March 28: Visitors to Bintulu should provide the police with Covid-19 test results done three days before entering the district in order to curb the spread of Covid-19, says Bintulu MP Datuk Seri Tiong King Sing.
Tiong in a press statement today proposed the Sarawak Disaster Management Committee (SDMC) make it mandatory for visitors to the district to undergo a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test within three days or fewer before arrival, in light of the growing trend of Covid-19 cases detected in Bintulu.
According to him, tougher measures must be considered to contain the rising number of cases, otherwise it would be unfair for many Bintulu residents whose daily lives have been greatly affected by the actions of irresponsible groups.
“Therefore, I have made recommendations to the SDMC under these circumstances to develop the policy quickly to control entry of persons from other districts or states, be it from a red or green zone. The PCR test report must be submitted to the police within three days prior to entry in order to receive a travel permit.
“Even if a person’s MyKad address shows an address in a green zone, the person might in fact live in a red zone. Once such a person enters Bintulu, we would not have any idea of their whereabouts. So they must produce the valid documents when entering Bintulu, failure to do so will resulted in deportation or compulsory quarantine order by he checkpoint officers,” he said.
Tiong said the result of the PCR test report must be submitted to the police prior to entry, and failure to show these documents should result in their entry being denied and the individual being returned to their place of departure.
“Alternatively, visitors must be quarantined until a negative test result clears them,” he added.
On the same note, Tiong, who is also the Prime Minister’s Special Envoy to the People’s Republic of China, said the people of Bintulu are disturbed by the increasing number of cases in the district, with more than 70 new confirmed cases today alone.
He noted that two-thirds of the confirmed cases are in quarantine locations, which means that the authorities have detected and contained the flow of confirmed cases in advance, thereby curbing more transmissions.
“However, one-third of the cases were unfortunately brought in by people from outside of the district coming here for work purposes.
“Bintulu is a heavy industry area which attracts many job seekers from other districts outside Bintulu. While we cannot prevent them from coming here to look for work, we must insist on their strict compliance to pandemic prevention standard operating procedures (SOPs) and control the flow of job seekers entering and leaving Bintulu,” he added.
Tiong pointed out that after arriving in Bintulu, many visitors, such as job seekers, will proceed to stay in longhouses, rented houses, at the homes of their relatives or friends, without further testing for Covid-19.
He noted that if this happens and those individuals report for work, any positive results for the coronavirus will result in more lockdowns of residential areas.
“When conducting mass screenings of many people in locked down areas, many were tested positive. Allowing this situation to continue will inevitably lead to more people (being) infected.
“In order to curb the continuing spread of Covid-19, we have no choice but to implement tougher measures. Apologies in advance to the people of Bintulu as this seems like a harsh tactic, but the necessary must be done to protect the health and safety of Bintulu and eradicate the coronavirus,” he said. — DayakDaily
