MP: Phase 4 but public still need to be vigilant

KUCHING: Bintulu MP Datuk Seri Tiong King Sing has reminded the people, especially the Chinese community who will be celebrating Chinese New Year in early February, to continue adhering to the Covid-19 prevention standard operating procedures (SOPs).
He said he had been informed that there were several local associations that had started organising activities in conjunction with the upcoming celebration.
“However, a few matters must be emphasised. Can such activities be postponed? If they cannot—as the date and place have been set—then the organisers or coordinators must wisely carry out their role and responsibility by ensuring that stringent SOPs are complied with.”
Tiong said organisers must control the number of people in attendance and ensure physical distancing can be implemented well.
“I hope everyone will take precautions to protect themselves and their families as a measure to reduce the spread of the virus,” he said in a Facebook post on Friday (Jan 7).
He stressed that even though Sarawak had entered Phase 4 of the National Recovery Plan (NRP) and various restrictions had been eased, people should not be complacent.
He pointed out that Bintulu was previously classified as a green zone with no positive cases reported in the past few months. However, he said now Bintulu had recorded cases involving 15 people who had tested positive after returning from abroad.
“Just in the blink of an eye, cases can increase to double digits. This clearly shows that we still have not won and we must continue to be careful and not negligent with the relaxations granted by the government.”
Tiong, who is also Dudong assemblyman and Progressive Democratic Party (PDP) president, said it was a collective responsibility to break the chain of transmissions and prevent the creation of new clusters.
Furthermore, he said that of late, there had been several new variants reported such as Omicron, Delta, and Delmicron.
“Most recently, Florona was detected in Israel and sparked public concern. Therefore, we must not take the SOPs lightly.
“We must avoid being the cause of these viruses continuing to spread and endanger the lives of ourselves and those around us.”