Sarawak will need to consult its medical experts before deciding whether to follow the latest Ministry of Health (MOH) measures on no longer requiring fully-vaccinated asymptomatic close contacts aged 18 and above to undergo Home Surveillance Order (HSO), said Dato Sri Dr Sim Kui Hian.

The deputy chief minister said he was sure the Sarawak Disaster Management Committee (SDMC), chaired by Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas, would call for a meeting with other relevant stakeholders soon regarding this matter.

“We need to go through every single aspect of what we have and don’t have. The decisions that we will come to will be based on what is best for Sarawakians.

“Whatever policies that we implement, it is always geared towards the best for Sarawak.

“Whatever policies or changes introduced by MOH, I am sure SDMC will adopt after assessing the local situation. It has to be suitable for us,” he told reporters after launching a recycling centre at Taman Desa Wira in Batu Kawah here today.

He was asked to comment on Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin’s announcement on the new protocol in which individuals above the age of 18 who are asymptomatic and boosted will no longer be required to undergo Home Surveillance Order (HSO) or self-quarantine.

However, these close contacts will still have to take a rapid antigen (RTK) test on the first and third day after exposure to Covid-19 positive cases.

Dr Sim, who is also Public Health, Housing and Local Government Minister, said Sarawak’s scenario needs to be assessed first before deciding on whether or not to adopt the protocol.

“In Sarawak, like I have always emphasised, the situation is not the same as Peninsular Malaysia. There, they got over 30,000 (new cases) but they still have a lot of hospitals.

“If Sarawak was to see the number of infections like in Peninsular Malaysia, we do not have the number of hospitals (to treat the infected),” he added.

Dr Sim also did not deny the possibility of Covid-19 cases rising sharply again in the next couple of weeks in Sarawak.

He said the rise in cases has already been projected by public health experts and not totally unexpected, but he also acknowledged there have been undetected and unreported cases that might lead to undercounting of the number of people who have been infected.

“In fact, local experts noted that there could be underreported positive cases as self-testing, self-isolation and self-monitoring have become a norm to all of us Sarawakians.

“This is what we called living with the virus eventually,” he said.

Despite this, he warned everyone to be very careful because although the Covid-19 Omicron variant appears to cause milder symptoms, it will still cause risk especially for the elderly and the high risk group.

He also pointed out that the state government’s measures and stance against the spread of Covid-19 may seem harsh, but these were done to protect the lives of Sarawakians.

“We do not want you to be part of the statistics like what happened last year. If you die, that’s goodbye forever. We don’t want that,” he said.

He also said that Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Tan Sri Abang Johari Tun Openg has instructed the relevant authorities to procure any Covid-19 drugs regardless of its high price for the benefit of the people.

“Now, we are negotiating with Pfizer-BioNTech for the new oral antiviral pills (for Covid-19 treatment especially emergency cases with severe symptoms).

“Previously, we were the only state in the country that has procured the Roche (-Regeneron) drug (mainly used to treat patients with mild to moderate symptoms) first. It costs RM5,000 for one prescription and is only available in public hospitals in Sarawak,” he added.

On another matter, Dr Sim said 38.8 per cent of children aged five to 11 years old in Sarawak have received their vaccination against Covid-19, which is short of the 50 per cent rate targeted by the end of February for the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme for Children (PICKids).

“We really need the help of parents to improve the vaccination rate and more importantly, to protect children from Covid-19 by getting a vaccine shot as soon as possible.

He revealed that this morning at Batu Kawah Clinic, there were 200 walk-in vaccinations for those who missed out due to their busy schedules.

“Even though we are the highest state in terms of vaccinating those from 5 to 11 years old, we really want to achieve our target of 90 per cent (from the 280,000 eligible recipients in the age group),” he added.

Source:
courtesy of THE BORNEO POST

by THE BORNEO POST

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