By Adrian Lim
KUCHING, Mar 13: Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture (MTAC) Datuk Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah is urging the public who are travelling to Kalimantan, Indonesia to adhere to their guidelines and rules with regards to public health amid growing concern over the Covid-19.
He pointed out that was important for travellers especially those from Sarawak to adhere to the local guidelines as prescribed by the local authorities when crossing the border to Indonesia.
“Each nation, each province has their own specific regulations in addressing these (Covid-19) kind of problems.
“If Indonesia comes up with these kind of requirements, whereby any visitor that are coming into that province, if there are instances of Covid-19 from the state or province of origin, like in Sarawak, they will have to be quarantined for 30 days.
“We have to respect it and we cannot tell them that is not the way,” Abdul Karim told reporters during a press conference here today.
He was responding to a statement which claimed that local authorities in Pontianak, Indonesia required visitors to have a 30-day quarantine period especially for those who have travelled to countries with Covid-19 cases.
In the meantime, Abdul Karim observed that Sarawak has recorded the first cases of Covid-19 today with three people infected.
It is believed that they were infected during a gathering from Feb 28 to Mar 1 at a mosque in Sri Petaling, Selangor
At the moment, the State Health Department is tracking down more than 236 people in Sarawak who had attended the gathering.
At the same time, he urged Sarawakians who had joined the gathering at the mosque in Sri Petaling, Selangor to come forward and report themselves with the health authorities.
On another note, Abdul Karim who is also Youth and Sports Minister revealed that several events have been postponed due to the worsening Covid-19 situation.
He outlined that one of them was the Rainforest World Music Festival (RWMF) which was originally set for July 10 to 12 this year.
RWMF to be postponed until further notice: Abdul Karim
Abdul Karim also disclosed that the Youth Exploration (Program Jelajah Belia) program which has garnered the support of more than 1,000 youth was also being postponed.
Besides this, he noted any motivation programme which involved students in Sarawak were also currently being postponed.
As for 2020 Sukma Games which will be held in Johor from July 11 to 19, Abdul Karim said the sports event has its own committee and he is unable to determine whether the event will proceed or be postponed.—DayakDaily
