KUCHING, Sept 15: ‘Don’t play around with figures by telling only half the truth about the Covid-19 situation in Sarawak’, says Milton Foo.
The Sarawak United People’s Party (SUPP) Youth secretary-general is urging Sarawak Democratic Action Party (DAP) chairman Chong Chieng Jen not to highlight only the local situation while not presenting the overall picture to the public.
As of Sept 14, Foo said quoting data from the CovidNow website that, Penang recorded the highest Covid-19 mortality rate in Malaysia with 17.1 deaths per 100,000 people while Sarawak’s data depicted 3.0 deaths per 100,000 people, although Penang’s number of daily tests was 30 per cent of that in Sarawak.
The total number of daily Covid-19 tests conducted in Penang as of Sept 12 was 5,015 tests with a positivity rate of 18.3 per cent, while in Sarawak, 17,206 tests were done daily with a positivity rate of 16.6 per cent.
“In terms of ICU (intensive care unit) beds, Penang was at 94.1 per cent ICU usage while Sarawak with 120 ICU beds had utilised 75.2 per cent, as of Sept 14.
“Parliamentarian Stampin MP Chong Chieng Jen is therefore urged not to play around with the figures by telling only the half-truth without disclosing Penang’s data,” said Foo in a statement today.
If Chong truly cares for Sarawak, he claimed, the former would discharge his Parliamentarian duties by fighting for the upgrading of Sarawak’s health facilities, instead of undertaking publicity stunts outside of Parliament.
While Sarawak has been recorded as one of the States with the highest daily number of Covid-19 tests in Malaysia, Foo pointed out it is the professional view of medical experts that it is only prudent and viable to trace infections in a quicker way through Antigen rapid test kit (RTK).
“The public is therefore advised by medical experts to do self-tests at home first if one has symptoms or close contact with a Covid-19 patient, and then approach COSC (Covid-19 One-Stop Centre), government clinics or private hospitals for a PCR (polymerase chain reaction) swab test if the self-test result turns out to be positive,” he added. — Dayakdaily
