KUCHING, April 5: Bandar Kuching MP Dr Kelvin Yii urges the federal government to send additional Covid-19 vaccines to the state to address the rising number of coronavirus cases in high risk areas in Sarawak.
Dr Yii in a press statement today said the delivery of extra Covid-19 vaccines is in line with the current government’s vaccination strategy known as the “ring strategy” announced by Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Khairy Jamaluddin in January.
He explained the strategy targets areas with a spike of coronavirus cases, such as prisons, detention centres, or workplaces and the strategy will run simultaneously throughout the phases of the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme (Pick) that prioritises frontliners, the elderly and those with underlying medical conditions before the general public.
“The federal government should have been more proactive and adhere to their own protocols to properly control the outbreak of such cases in high risk areas.
“Yesterday, Sarawak recorded 419 positive Covid-19 cases which is the highest in Malaysia and a huge part of this was down to a spike in cases at the Sri Aman prison which was similar to the drastic increase in positive cases that was previously detected in Semuja Immigration Depo at the end of last month.
“Technically, if based on the strategy set by the government itself, they would have automatically sent more vaccines to Sarawak as the sudden increase in cases in those centres activates the “ring-strategy” protocol,” he said.
Dr Yii also quoted Khairy who said in an interview with an online portal in January that the federal government will provide more Covid-19 vaccines to a particular location or clusters that experience a sudden spike in cases, for instance in a prison or a company.
He believed there was no need for the state government to request for more Covid-19 vaccines from the federal government through Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin during the latter’s visit to Kuching here last week.
Apart from that, Dr Yii who is a medical professional by training and a Democratic Action Party (DAP) lawmaker said the state government should not take things lightly although most Covid-19 cases in Sri Aman were contained in the prison or detention centre as there could be risks that the officers and workers were exposed to the coronavirus patient and run the risk of bringing the infection home and infecting their family members.
Therefore, he called on the federal government to expedite the delivery of additional Covid-19 vaccine to Covid-19 red zones in Sarawak. — DayakDaily
