KUCHING, June 28: Deputy Chief Minister Tan Sri James Jemut Masing opines selective lockdown practices throughout the nation would not help to stop the spread of Covid-19, but will instead rouse anger against the government.
According to Masing in a press statement today, the total lockdown, as now practised throughout the nation, is a very selective approach, involving the closing down of certain factories.
“Such approach can’t break the chain of spread (sic) of Covid-19, because when the Movement Control Order (MCO) stops, Covid-19 will continue its rampage, and the effect of the lockdown will create economic mutants (sic) among industries, including social frustration within the community, and roused the anger of netizens against the government,” he said.
Masing pointed out that Malaysian decisionmakers should push for an aggressive inoculation programme for industrial workers using any available vaccine in order to create enough herd immunity for the industrial sector to function.
He asserted the novel coronavirus is here to stay for a while, and neither the MCO nor Conditional Movement Control Order (CMCO) implementation will help cut its spread, but vaccination will.
“Therefore, Sarawak’s aggressive rollout of vaccines by a ‘jab first, register later’ approach to contain Covid-19 is the correct approach. Thus, Sarawak has the most number of people who have been inoculated in Malaysia.
“In fact, Sarawak need not follow the total lockdown as being practised in Malaya, but by being part of Malaysia, we have to follow national instruction,” he added.
On June 7, Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg announced that rural folks in the state would be eligible to receive Covid-19 vaccinations even if they turned up at vaccination centres without having to register first.
He explained that this flexibility was adopted so that rural folks do not have to travel far and make multiple trips for their vaccinations, while at the same time, it would expedite the vaccination rollout particularly in rural areas. — DayakDaily
