Dr Abdul Rahman (second left) hands over the face masks to Penghulu Davis Parag Udan while Ladin (left), Denney (fourth left) and others look on.
LAWAS: Limbang Division is eyeing to become a Covid-19 green zone soon.
Lawas District under the division is categorised as a green zone while Limbang District is a yellow zone.
Assistant Minister of Agriculture, Native Land and Regional Development Datuk Dr Abdul Rahman Ismail gave this outlook to The Borneo Post after chairing the Lawas District Disaster Management Committee meeting at Lawas District Office on Tuesday.
Saying it would be an uphill task due to the multiple entry points to Limbang by air, land and sea, he however pointed out that being declared a green zone is not the end of the war against Covid-19.
“A green zone declaration does not mean that the people can be comfortable and let complacency creep in,” he warned.
He said to be a green zone, Limbang District would need to have zero positive cases of Covid-19 for 28 consecutive days.
“The last case was reported on April 18, and Limbang will be declared green zone if there are no more infections for 28 days thereafter,” he said.
As of now, Limbang Division has nine positive cases involving five males and four females, with one fatality reported on March 16. There are 187 persons under investigation and 357 persons under surveillance in the division as of April 19.
He congratulated Lawas District for its green zone status.
The Bukit Kota assemblyman said tight security at all entry points in both districts must be vigilantly enforced while all quarters play their respective roles in fighting this war against the invisible enemy – coronavirus.
Lawas and Limbang have land and river entry points from Brunei, Sabah and East Kalimantan province of Indonesia apart from airports linking them to Miri, Kuching and Kota Kinabalu.
Dr Abdul Rahman said it is imperative to break the chain of transmission of this new virus as there has been no known vaccine in the world currently and patients have to rely on their own body immunity system to overcome infections.
He advised the public to exercise greater vigilance on health and observe the rules of the Movement Control Order (MCO).
He warned everyone, including civil servants, not to flout the MCO, saying “Do not choose (to go to) prison, choose to stay at home.”
He said civil servants who are caught would risk losing their pension, face imprisonment or fine if they are convicted in court.
The assistant minister later handed over Lawas’s share of 37,500 out of 75,000 masks for Limbang Division to the district disaster management committee for distribution to the people in Lawas through the respective community leaders and village chiefs.
Also present at the meeting were Limbang Resident Ahmad Denney Ahmad Fauzi, Lawas district officer Ladin Atok and heads of government departments and agencies.