KUCHING, July 15: Are there any loopholes in the current standard operating procedures (SOP) that enabled the entry of the Covid-19 Delta variant (B.1.617.2) into Sarawak, questioned Democratic Action Party (DAP) Serian chairman Brolin Nicholson.
Brolin posed the query to the Sarawak government after the recent emergence of Covid-19 patients infected with the variant, which is known to have high transmissibility and severity.
The first Covid-19 positive case with the Delta variant, which is the most dangerous variant after the Lambda (C.37) variant of Peru, was detected on June 18 involving a 56-year-old man while 16 more cases were reported in Kuching as of July 14.
“The Delta variant has made many people in Malaysia especially in Sarawak afraid as it can infect (people) very fast compared to the other variants.
“It perplexed Sarawakians as to how the Delta variant reached Sarawak, if all the necessary SOPs were followed and abided by.
“Are there some loopholes that the government missed which enabled the carrier of the variant to infect other Sarawakians?” Brolin asked in a statement today.
He added that the Sarawak government must be transparent when addressing this issue as to where and how the variant entered the State.
Meanwhile, the special assistant to DAP Sarawak chairman Chong Chieng Jen viewed that the Sarawak government should consult experts to have a set of better-drafted SOPs that ensures a safe environment for the people.
“Therefore, I urge the Sarawak government to use their autonomy as a Wilayah (region) to draft better SOPs for Sarawak or else the Wilayah status is just a paper status.
“It is time for Sarawak to do mass testing to detect the early carriers to avoid infecting others and potentially flatten the curve,” added Brolin. — DayakDaily
