KUCHING: The Bintulu Division Disaster Management Committee (BDDMC), particularly the Health Department, is planning to implement partial lockdowns to respond to the Covid-19 data and trend in residential areas.
Bintulu MP Datuk Seri Tiong King Sing said the lockdown must be strictly implemented to contain and eliminate outbreaks.
“All residents in the affected housing areas will be subjected to two RT-PCR tests. Unlike in the past, the lockdown period could be made longer as the test will be done on Day 2 and Day 13.
“This is because the authorities must guard against the Delta variant of the virus, which has a longer incubation period.
“Then, if more confirmed cases are detected from Day 13’s test, the lockdown period may be extended,” he said in a Facebook post on Monday (Aug 23).
On the increasing number of cases — Bintulu District recorded 97 on Sunday — he said this was a warning sign that the virus was still spreading widely.
“With the gradual opening of the economy, shopping malls, restaurants and other places need to manage the flow of people.
“At this moment, there should not be any promotional activities that may lead to crowds and gatherings that make physical distancing difficult.”
From a data analytics point of view, he said, there were clusters in the district triggered by promotional activities.
“Remember, do not rush out to buy anything due to the promotional activities in shopping centres or other places.
“During this critical period, all supermarkets, shopping malls, or restaurants are not allowed to hold special promotions that would entice more crowding so that we do not increase the chances of infection.”
He reminded that the opening of the economy was for survival of people’s livelihoods and businesses, but this did not mean people could feel secure from Covid-19 yet.
