By Adrian Lim
KUCHING, Oct 9: The State Disaster Management Committee (SDMC) has advised Sarawakians to refrain from making unnecessary travel out of the state this month.
This follows the increased number of Covid-19 positive cases recorded in Sarawak in the past 14 days.
SDMC chairman Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas said most of the cases reported in the last two weeks were imported.
“In the past 14 days, 40 cases were reported, of which seven cases or 17.5 per cent, were Import A (overseas), whereby from states (Import B), there were 22 cases or 55 per cent. From the 22 cases, 15 were imported from Sabah.
“There are 11 cases or 27.5 per cent of local transmission whereby six positive cases were close contact from the import cases,” he said during a press conference here today.
The Deputy Chief Minister pointed out that the data has shown that most of the cases were imported.
If Sarawakians could reduce their travels out of the state, Uggah believed the number of imported cases could be reduced.
He explained that the policy for self-quarantine at home for Sarawakian returnees, who travelled out of the state, was no longer effective at this juncture.
Elaborating further, Uggah pointed out that there were a few self-quarantine cases which were difficult to monitor by the committee.
In view of this and the rising imported cases, he said SDMC has decided to impose quarantine for Sarawakians who returned from Peninsular Malaysia at designated quarantine centers with effect from Oct 10 to 18.
“This is to protect the public’s health as well as to break the chain of Covid-19 infections in Sarawak.
“We hope that all Sarawakians (will) cooperate, be patient and play a proactive role so that the cases will not increase.
“We can see it (the number of positive cases) is still high in neighbouring Sabah, Peninsular Malaysia, Indonesia and in the Philippines.
“Therefore, we really have to take care of our borders and our people from this infection,” he added. —DayakDaily
