SIBU, Sept 8: Sarawakians have been urged not to be alarmed over the four-digit daily count for Covid-19 cases in the State during this post-vaccination period.
Assistant Minister of Education, Science and Technological Research Dr Annuar Rapaee said that although the State has been recording over three thousand new cases daily recently, most of the cases are Category 1 (asymptomatic) and 2 (mild symptoms).
“Do not focus on the overall number of cases. For example Sibu yesterday recorded 271 cases where 270 of them were Categories 1 and 2 cases. Only one case was Category 4 where the patient has lung infection prior to being infected with the coronavirus,” he told reporters today when met at the Covid-19 vaccination centre (PPV) at the Sibu Civic Centre where the vaccination programme for teenagers aged 16 and 17 is being rolled out
He also pointed out that Sarawak yesterday recorded far fewer Covid-19 fatalities than Selangor and Sabah.
“Sarawak yesterday had seven deaths from 3,200 new cases. But Selangor had 35 deaths from 2,407 new cases while Sabah had 30 deaths from among its 2,107 new cases,” he said.
The Nangka assemblyman said the main focus now should be on avoiding more fatalities and hospitalisation so as not to overwhelm the healthcare system.
On the PPV at Sibu Indoor Stadium, he said it had been turned into a Covid-19 Assessment Centre (CAC) where it has been tasked with assessing the health status of positive cases who are quarantined at home.
“We are very strict in monitoring patients when they are at home. We have set up a virtual system to monitor their health condition daily,” he added.
On the possibility of vaccine hesitancy among individuals aged 16 and 17, Dr Annuar said that they would provide counselling for them and their parents.
“We will organise counseling programmes for schools and especially parents of students who are vaccine hesitant. After the session, they can walk-in at any PPV for the vaccination,” he said.
Those aged between 12 and 15 with comorbidities, he said, were also given vaccines during the four-day programme for the 16 and 17-year-olds.
“We are vaccinating those with comorbidities but personally I think we need to vaccinate all those who are 12 to 15 years as eventually we will have to vaccinate everybody,” he said.
A total of 9,289 secondary school students aged 16 to 17-years-old from 33 national and private schools in Sibu Division are involved in the vaccination programme from Sept 8 to 11.
The PPVs for this rollout include Sibu Civic Centre, Sibu Jaya Multipurpose Hall, Kanowit District Office Hall, the Sibu Divisional Health Office Mobile PPV service and the Selangau District Health Office Mobile PPV.
Accompanying him during the inspection of the PPV were Sibu Health Department officer Dr Teh Jo Hun and Senator Robert Lau. — DayakDaily
