By Nancy Nais
KUCHING, Mar 26: Sarawak has recorded three imported Covid-19 clusters from Italy, Netherlands and Scotland, Local Government and Housing Minister Datuk Seri Dr Sim Kui Hian revealed today.
Apparently, these are Sarawakians who have returned from the above countries.
Sim said three members of the same family who recently died from Covid-19 came from the Italy cluster, where a female close to the family who recently came back was tested positive.
“We also have one infected case from Scotland and one from Netherlands right now. They are all Sarawakians, and we cannot stop them from coming back. That is why we need to change our policy,” Sim asserted, adding that the Health Department had tracked down these individuals and they are now under quarantine.
The Health Department is also tracing all those who were on the same flights as those infected.
According to Dr Sim, the positive cases in Sarawak stemmed from imported cases with a majority from Kuala Lumpur.
“People do not know they are infected, so they move around. That is why we had to enforce the Restricted Movement Order (RMO) to stop people from infecting others.
“Please understand that even if you get tested today and the result is negative, you must realise the incubation period is 14 days. So it can be negative today, but what happens if you suddenly get a fever tomorrow? Are we going to test each and everyone everyday for 14 days? It can be quite painful because your nose will get ulcers from 14 days of testing,” he explained.
Pleading with members of the public to stay at home, Sim pointed out that the sooner everyone obeys the RMO, the faster these “temporary inconveniences and pain” will go away.
“If we do it well, we can get it over soon. We urge the public to understand, to help each and every one of us by staying at home during this period,” he said. —DayakDaily
