KUCHING: The Sarawak Disaster Management Committee (SDMC) will consult local medical experts to decide if Covid-19 close contacts, who have received their booster dose do not need to undergo quarantine if they have no symptoms, starting March 1.
Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Seri Dr Sim Kui Hian said the committee has not decided if Sarawak will follow the Health Ministry’s (MOH) latest ruling, as the situation in the state would be different from West Malaysia.
“In West Malaysia, if they have 30,000 infected people, they still have many hospitals.
However, if we have the same proportion of people infected in Sarawak, we may not have that number of hospitals to look after our people,” he told the reporters after officiating the opening of Desa Wira Recycling Centre here today.
“I am very sure that (SDMC chairman) Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas will call for an SDMC meeting together with the local experts to look at our own scenario – what we have and do not have,” he said.
“We decide what is best for Sarawak and the people. If any health ministry’s policy is suitable for Sarawak, I am sure the SDMC and the local experts will adopt it,” he said.
Dr Sim, who is also Public Health, Housing and Local Government Minister and SDMC advisor, said the local medical experts have projected an increase in COVID-19 cases in Sarawak, especially in view of the spread of the Omicron variant.
“In fact, the local experts feel that the numbers are under-reported. There are cases in which people have tested positive and they do not report it, but they continue to self-test, self-isolate and self-monitor. This is what we will eventually call living with the virus,” he said.
He also said Sarawak was in the process of negotiations with Pfizer, on the purchase of the new oral antiviral drug for Covid-19.
