By Ling Hui
KUCHING, May 22: Once all employees of The Spring, Kuching have undergone their Covid-19 polymerase chain reaction (PCR) tests while all sanitisation works are done, it will still be the safest shopping centre when re-opened.
State Disaster Management Committee (SDMC) advisor Dato Sri Dr Sim Kui Hian, in stating this, urged the general public to support The Spring while its management is cooperating closely with the authorities to clean and sanitise the place and get all their workers swabbed.
Noting the Ministry of Health (MoH)’s speedy declaration of the Simpang Tiga Cluster involving a shopping centre at Kenyalang Park this time, he said the emergence of this cluster is inevitable given the high intensity of people visiting the shopping centre every day.
“Without even the prediction of Hide (Hotspots Identification for Dynamic Engagement), it is inevitable to have cases (at the shopping centre) where it evolves into a cluster.
“(It) is not the first shopping centre cluster, (and it definitely) will not be the last,” he said in a social media post yesterday (May 21).
Taking this into consideration, Dr Sim, who is also Minister for Local Government and Housing, said the local councils would soon work with managements of shopping centres in Sarawak on limiting the number of patrons based on usable floor areas at any one time.
He added that such procedures, similar to Singapore’s practice, would be implemented once the medical experts advice on crowd control is submitted as Sarawak requires temporary tightening of standard operating procedures (SOP) in shopping centres for the State’s circuit breaker.
“Our number one priority at this critical stage of Covid-19 is to keep everyone alive,” he said. — DayakDaily
