By Lian Cheng
KUCHING, Sept 20: The 20 death cases related to Covid-19 reported on Sept 19 (Sunday) is inclusive of other backlog cases of which the earliest one is backdated to Sept 6, 2021.
Sarawak Disaster Management Committee (SDMC) chairman Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah who was “surprised” and “shocked” by the high number of fatalities within one day like many Sarawakians, stressed that the 20 death cases reported on Sept 19 was not a caseload yielded within a single day.
“In fact, we had one on Sept 6, one on Sept 7, two cases on Sept 15, one case on Sept 16, 11 case on Sept 17, and four on Sept 18. So these were backlog cases,” said Uggah in a press conference today called to announce the formation of Covid-19 Awareness Working Committee which is tasked to educate and inform the public on Covid-19 situation following Sarawak moving into post vaccination era.
Uggah said late report of Covid-19 fatal cases happened because the authorities need to perform post-mortem on the deceased who were suspected cases of Covid-19 to determine the cause of death.
To avoid further misunderstanding of “20 deaths within a day” from happening, he said SDMC will take up Chief Mnister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg’s advice where it will change its way of reporting by specifically stating the dates the deceased passing on so that “people don’t get shocked” like he did.
Uggah who is also Deputy Chief Minister admitted that there were death cases related to full vaccinated individuals. However, as he did not have the full statistics with him, and the fact that he is not a medically trained doctor who can comment on the issue of death involving the fully vaccinated, he would prefer for the question to be answered in another day. — DayakDaily
