KUCHING: Local Government and Housing Minister Datuk Seri Dr Sim Kui Hian has clarified that Sarawak certainly does not have the most Covid-19 Delta variant cases in Malaysia.
“Because we have Institute of Health and Community Medicine (IHCM), Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas), (part of a) handful of labs in Malaysia that are capable to do genomic studies with Prof Dr David Perera (director of IHCM, Unimas) and team.
“(The team is carrying out studies based) on self-initiative without waiting for any instructions from Kuala Lumpur (KL),” he explained.
“The more you look, the more you find,” he said in a Facebook post on Wednesday (Sept 1).
He said this in reference to news reports that Sarawak had accounted for 178 samples of a total of 265 involving the Delta variant detected in the country between Aug 16 to 29 – the highest among the states.
He said the same went for daily cases in Sarawak, pointing out that the state was conducting a significant number of tests even when compared to the country as a whole – thanks to the public coming forward, the State Health Department (JKNS) stepping up, and the Sarawak Disaster Management Committee’s (SDMC) efforts and financial subsidies.
“Whereas in Greater KL, they have moved into mitigation stage where they swab test only if you are symptomatic,” said the SDMC advisor.
In another post on Thursday (Sept 2), he said that due to everyone’s extraordinary efforts with regard to vaccinations, Sarawak by the end of August had already reached an endemic stage – living with the virus.
Dr Sim said this involved high vaccination drive, maintaining vigilance, keeping to new norms for the foreseeable future, and conducting regular testing wherever necessary.
“As for about 29 per cent of Sarawakians below 18 years of age, we want to first vaccinate 16- to 17-year-olds, then 12- to 15-year-olds as soon as possible as Pfizer-BioNTech has been approved by the National Pharmaceutical Regulatory Agency (NPRA) for both age groups.
“And then eventually probably 3- to 11-year-olds; NPRA needs to give approval soon to save lives.”
He said as the state continued to encourage more tests conducted, there would be more Covid-19 cases reported.
Nevertheless, he noted that as a result of vaccinations, the number of Covid-19 deaths in Sarawak had declined compared to the rest of the country.
“Therefore, while there is no need to panic due to the number of new cases in the post-vaccination era, there is a need to remain alert so we can slow transmissions.
“This is so as to not overwhelm our healthcare facilities, hospital beds, and intensive care unit (ICU), as well as to avoid stretching our medical frontliners to maximum, where they would be burned out and exhausted.”
