KUCHING: Sarawak will only consider lifting the 14-day mandatory quarantine if the Covid-19 situation in the state in particular and country as a whole has improved satisfactorily or when the measure is no longer necessary.
Sarawak Disaster Management Committee (SDMC) chairman Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas said the committee formulated the standard operating procedures (SOPs) based on what is happening in the state.
“Since the beginning, the positive cases in the state were imported ones. Pasai Cluster, for instance, gave rise to over 3,000 positive cases. All started from an imported case.
“Even today, Sarawak has recorded one Import A and one Import B cases. So, if we don’t have our quarantine policy, these cases would spread the virus to the local people,” he said during his daily Covid-19 press conference on Sunday (April 11).
He was responding to certain quarters who petitioned for the abolishment of the 14-day mandatory quarantine in Sarawak.
To this, Uggah said the state needs the quarantine to help curb the pandemic.
“We are facing threats from the virus brought by foreigners who cross the state’s borders through the legal entry points.
“We empathise and sympathise with the petitioners. We know their problems, but we hope Sarawakians would understand our situation.
“We are not causing problems to the people. The SOPs are necessary to protect them and not to discriminate against them or stop family members from reuniting,” he said.
