KUCHING: Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas has urged all Sarawakians to download the COVIDTrace application, which was launched by Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg earlier today.
Uggah, who is also Sarawak Disaster Management Committee (SDMC) chairman, said that COVIDTrace would facilitate contact tracing efforts by the Health Ministry.
He also called upon all business owners to utilise the Qmunity application, which was launched yesterday as well, allowing business owners to record customers patronising their premises without them having to manually provide their name and phone number as is currently practised.
“With Qmunity, the customer only has to scan the QR code before they enter the premise,” he said at the SDMC Covid-19 daily update press conference yesterday.
He added that the Ministry of Local Government and Housing would be distributing the QR codes to establishments, starting in Kuching.
Meanwhile, he said that the number of passengers allowed to travel in personal vehicles would be subject to its seating capacity — with passengers to consist of family members only.
Uggah reiterated that during the upcoming Gawai festivities, ngabang Gawai or house-to-house and longhouse-to-longhouse visiting would not be permitted.
He explained that the situation in longhouses was not the same as a village where there were individual houses.
“Do not ngabang. Let it be within that family within that longhouse. Otherwise, it can get out of control,” he said.
He apologised for such a measure being implemented, stressing that this was to cut the chain of transmission of Covid-19 especially from urban to rural areas which made up most of the green zones in Sarawak.
“Furthermore, a lot of people in the rural areas are the elderly and children and these are high-risk groups,” he said.
