Let’s regard this as the beginning of Covid-19 second wave: Uggah

Uggah announcing Covid-19 updates as of July 17, 2020 in a press conference.

By Ling Hui

KUCHING, July 17: State Disaster Management Committee (SDMC) chairman Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas announced the beginning of Covid-19’s second outbreak in Sarawak after witnessing an increasing number of locally-transmitted cases for the past few days.

“Let us regard this as the beginning of the second wave because after a certain time of low case number, we are moving into an increased number of cases,” he said in a press conference reporting the update of Covid-19 today.

Uggah also revealed the preparations done by SDMC and Sarawak State Health Department (JKNS) to brace for the second wave of Covid-19.

“SDMC has directed JKNS to be prepared. On Monday, we (SDMC) will be informed of the number of PPE (personal protective equipment) at all hospitals in Sarawak so that we won’t be caught by surprise when face the second wave later on,” he said.

He stated that SDMC and JKNS would buy more of the PPEs if it was deemed insufficient to equip the frontliners with complete protective gears when treating patients.

He also said that SDMC had requested JKNS to screen the frontliners for Covid-19 before letting them treat the Covid-19 patients at the frontlines.—DayakDaily