By Jacob Achoi
KUCHING, Feb 23: Describing Kampung Emperoh Jambu as a ghost town, Assistant Minister of Transport Datuk Dr Jerip Susil says this is a good sign as it shows high compliance with standard operating procedures (SOPs) following the village being placed under Enhanced Movement Control Order (EMCO) from today until March 8.
Dr Jerip who visited the village which consists of 109 households today hoped that following the strict compliance by the villagers, the Emperoh Jambu cluster will be contained.
He said as of yesterday, there were already 42 cases reported which are related to this cluster and many are awaiting swab test results. Active case detection is now ongoing in the village.
The index case of the cluster, he said, attended a funeral in the village from Feb 2 to 5, and spread it to villagers as well as other relatives who came to attend the funeral from other villages.
After the funeral, he said a family of four from Kampung Petag who are related to the 82-year-old deceased had been found positive for Covid-19.
Dr Jerip who is also the Mambong assemblyman said the Sarawak Disaster Management Committee has started the process of contact tracing following the detection of the said four positive cases from Kampung Petag.
Apart from the family of four at Kampung Petag, another family from Kampung Rabak Simbuh who is also related to the 82-year-old deceased were also found to be Covid-19 positive.
Dr Jerip thus strongly advised residents in the constituency not to hold social gatherings, adding that any birthday party must be confined to family members.
He also reminded that children below 12-years-old are not allowed to attend funeral services at the cemetery, adding that only ten persons are allowed inside the house where a wake is held and 30 persons at the cemetery.
“I appeal to the people to come forward voluntarily to have a swab test at any nearby clinic, and at the same time advise the people not to visit Kg Emperoh Jambu for the time being,” said Dr Jerip.
He hoped that the villagers of Kg Emperoh Jambu who have moved to town and their relatives will postpone visiting the village for now to help break the Covid-19 chain.
Among those present was Ministry of Housing and Local Government health officer Billy Sujang. — DayakDaily
