SIBU: Residents under the Sibu Rural District Council (SRDC) jurisdiction have been told to help in the fight against Covid-19 and rabies epidemic in the area.
Speaking at the launch of a two-in one campaign — prevention of Covid-19 and anti-rabies on Saturday, SRDC chairman Sempurai Petrus Ngelai urged the residents to strictly observe the SOP on Covid-19 and at the same time, especially dog owners, to keep their animals indoor.
“The council is also one of the frontliners together with the police, hospital and armed forces involved in operations to ensure that the people are safe.
“We should appreciate their work and with this I urge residents in Sibujaya to comply with the SOP,” he added.
Sempurai said until a vaccine has been found, the fight against Covid-19 in SRDC areas like in any other places has not ended yet.
“I want to remind residents that a second wave of Covid-19 pandemic might hit the state and Sibu, if we let our guard down. The emergence of new clusters in Kuching, reminds us that we need to work together to maintain Sibu as a green zone.
“Besides Covid-19 pandemic, we in Sibujaya and Sibu Division are also affected by rabies. While we have been giving much attention to Covid-19, we were shocked with two deaths from rabies infection recently,” he said.
Sempurai added that rabies epidemic was still prevalent in the council’s areas which include Sibujaya, Sanhill Barat and Timur, Jalan Oya and Jalan Oya Lama.
“I have been urging the people in Sibujaya especially dog owners to fully cooperate with us by keeping their animals indoor and not to let them out. Besides that, the animals need to be given anti-rabies jab and pet license needs to be applied from the council,” he said.
He advised pet owners not to shirk on their responsibility by letting their dogs roam in the housing estates as they could become infected with the disease and later bite people.
“I want to take this opportunity to appeal to everybody to abide by the SOP, protocol, directives and advice from the government through the State Disaster Management Committee so that we can win the war against Covid-19 and rabies,” he said.
