KUCHING: Safety measures are fully in place at Kuching International Airport (KIA) in efforts to prevent the novel Wuhan coronavirus from entering Sarawak.
On a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Kuching this week, a New Sarawak Tribune reporter noted that all passengers were given a health declaration form, which was mandatory to be submitted at the immigration point upon arriving.
The declaration form included personal details, contact information, information on port of departure and arrival into the country, whether the passenger had been to China or other countries affected by coronavirus in the past 14 days, and whether they had symptoms such as fever, chill, cough, runny nose, or difficulty in breathing.
A cautionary note on the form read ‘If you refuse to fill, conceal, or falsely declare, you will be charged according to Protection of Public Health Ordinance, 1999’.
Upon arrival, officers were at the immigration entrance to check if all passengers had already filled their health declaration forms.
An officer also manned a thermal scanner, screening everyone as they passed through to the immigration counters.
Next to the scanner, a station had been set up for health officers to speak to certain travellers who had been pulled aside.
A banner by the Sarawak Health Department requested travellers who were from or had passed through China to report to the quarantine room.
On the plane and at the airport, the vast majority of travellers had their faces hidden behind face masks.
As of Thursday (Feb 6), the State Disaster Management Committee (JPBN) reported that Sarawak was still free of coronavirus.
They said that foreigners, regardless of nationality, who had been to China in the last 14 days would be refused entry into the state.
