KUCHING: The State Disaster Management Committee (SDMC) will evaluate each town’s capacity of hotel rooms for quarantine in determining the frequency of incoming flights.
Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas said this in response to Bintulu MP Datuk Seri Tiong King Sing who urged the Transport Ministry to increase the frequency of flights between Bintulu and Kuala Lumpur.
“For this reason, we have decided that there is only one flight a week for Bintulu because there are not many hotels there,” he said at the SDMC Covid-19 daily update press conference yesterday.
Uggah said that there was also a limit on flights to Sibu, Miri and Kuching as well.
However, he said that this would be reviewed from time to time. For example, he said Bintulu was receiving additional flights at the moment to meet the requirements of students flying back from West Malaysia.
Uggah,who is also SDMC chairman, said that a high percentage of Covid-19 cases in the state were imported cases.
“Thus, we have a ruling that Sarawakians returning to the state will be quarantined in hotels,” he said, stressing the importance of quarantine as previously, positive Covid-19 cases had been detected among those being quarantined.
Meanwhile, Utilities Minister Datuk Seri Dr Stephen Rundi Utom said he would be meeting with heads of departments at Sarawak General Hospital (SGH) soon to discuss issues relating to the welfare of the hospital’s healthcare workers.
He said the committee set up by SDMC to look into these matters was in the process of doing so and they were looking at all the information gathered.
“We will be reporting to SDMC within the next two or three days,” he said.
