By Lian Cheng
KUCHING, Sept 13: Should Sarawak Disaster Management Committee (SDMC) allow dine-ins across Sarawak after Sept 19, 2021 (Sunday) when a new decision needed to be made? The answer perhaps rests on you.
Due to the high number of cases in southern Sarawak, dine-in has been banned for the general public, despite high vaccination rate. By this Sunday, the ban will come to an end, and Sarawak Disaster Management Committee (SDMC) will need to make a decision on whether the ban should be prolonged due to the recent spike in cases that went beyond 5,000 daily, or should eateries be opened for dine-in in view that Sarawak has achieved more than 88 per cent of full vaccination rate.
Dayakdaily is running two polls on its Facebook and website respectively to gauge the preference of the general public with regards to this issue.
The Facebook poll was put up 4 hours ago. The poll is only allowed in the Story section of Facebook, and will last for only 24 hours. For those wanting to vote on Facebook, please go to https://www.facebook.com/1348351441900718/posts/4446813558721142/.
Click on Dayakdaily logo on the left top corner, where you will be led to a blank story page. Click on it and it will lead you to a poll.
As DayakDaily noticed that many Facebook followers did not know how to reach to the poll, it decided to create another poll on its website. A three-day pop-up poll has been up and running at about 4.40pm for all DayakDaily readers to express their preferences. Do participate so that your voice may be heard by clicking on dayakdaily.com where a poll will pop-up upon entering into Dayakdaily website.
At the end of the poll, the results for both Facebook and the website poll will be processed to inform the readers of the final outcomes.
Following the recent dubious upward relentless surge in the number of Covid-19 positive cases in Sarawak which sees more than 3,000 such as today, it would be difficult for SDMC to make a decision. Your input of a simple yes or no, will make a difference as the results will be converted into news on Wednesday (Sept 15, 2021) evening at 10pm, where the website poll will be closed.
The recent ban on dine-in started on Aug 27. Due to significant decline in Covid-19 daily confirmed cases, districts in the Central and Northern Regions were allowed to move into Phase 3 of National Recovery Plan where the ban on dine-in in these districts were lifted on Sept 5.
For districts in Southern Sarawak, positive Covid-19 cases has continued to climb. While the rest of Sarawak were experiencing more lenient standard operating procedures, dine-ins continues to be banned in the Southern Region until Sept 19.
With Sept 19 approaching fast but the daily caseload surging even faster, allowing dine-in will not be a difficult question for SDMC, but also for Sarawakians whose livelihoods have been adversely affected by the decision. — DayakDaily
