By Adrian Lim
KUCHING, July 6: The emergence of just one large Covid-19 cluster will delay Sarawak from moving into Phase Three and Four of the National Recovery Plan (NRP), which will provide much greater “freedom” from Covid-19.
Sarawak Disaster Management Committee (SDMC) advisor Dato Sri Dr Sim Kui Hian said it will only take one irresponsible party to stop Sarawak from achieving the threshold of moving into the next phase of the NRP.
He urged employers and individuals to be honest and report Covid-19 cases to the authorities by declaring the name and the location where the cases were detected.
“Cluster Industry 121, Kuala Baram is not the first and will not be the last. It shows you just need one irresponsible person or company to put the whole NRP, not just Miri but potentially Sarawak, one step further away from #Freedom, Phase Three and Four of NRP.
“In a public health crisis like now, the public should have the right to know the name and location of the offending culprits,” he said in a Facebook post last night.
Dr Sim added that the enforcement regarding the compliance of the standard operating procedures (SOP) to prevent Covid-19 should not just fall on the shoulders of the Kuching Health Office or State Health Department, as both government agencies are busy dealing with Covid-19 cases.
He believed every enforcement agency should work together and step up their enforcement duties as they have been delegated to do their job under the Prevention and Control of Infectious Disease Act 1988 (Act 342).
Meanwhile, the Industri 121 Kuala Baram Cluster is a workplace cluster identified yesterday involving workers of a plywood factory in Miri.
Some 132 workers from the factory were tested positive out of which 125 were foreign workers and the balance were locals. — DayakDaily
