BINTULU, June 25: Recent spot checks by enforcement officers here uncovered Covid-19 persons under investigation (PUI) and persons under surveillance (PUS) being placed in grossly unhygienic and foul-smelling rooms of hotels designated as quarantine centres.
The shock discovery had led to Bintulu MP Datuk Seri Tiong King Sing issuing warning to hotel operators the they must maintain cleanliness standards or be dropped as quarantine centres.
Tiong said recently, he had joined officers from various departments to conduct raids on hotels designated as quarantine centres to inspect these hotels’ compliance to the required standards of sanitisation and disinfection for PUI and PUS sent there to be quarantined.
According to Tiong, checks revealed some truly unsanitary conditions among the hotels such as uncleaned toilets, foul-smelling rooms, stained pillowcases, and tabletops that were left dusty.
“We even asked for feedback from some of the residents on the spot and most did not dare to offer much comments, but a few said that upon moving in, they found that they had to clean and disinfect the place themselves before feeling comfortable enough to stay on.
“These hotels are given reprieve from their heavy losses by being allowed to earn income as quarantine centres,” he said today in a social media posting.
Tiong who is also Prime Minister’s Special Envoy to China said hotel owners must hold up their end of the deal by maintaining properly upkeep and sanitise the rooms as their effort to help the government win the fight against the coronavirus disease.
“Instead, the irresponsible hotels are leaving their rooms in a substandard condition and simply pocketing the money,” he added.
He also pointed out that the hotel industry in other places have been badly impacted with heavy losses during to the pandemic, but many hotels in Bintulu have been able to continue to function as quarantine centers, offering their workers a glimmer of hope during the economic downturn.
“I want to reiterate that the Bintulu District Disaster Management Committee and the Health Department must ensure that hotel operators must strictly comply with the guidelines to sanitise their rooms.
“Immediate actions must be taken against those who fail to maintain the standards given, including withholding their fees, and removing the hotel from the list of quarantine centres if violations continue to occur,” he said. – DayakDaily.
