MPKS councilor Sarkawi Suhaili (right) distributes face masks to a representative of a household at Uni Garden.
KOTA SAMARAHAN: After waiting for almost two weeks, households in Kota Samarahan finally received their free face masks from the Sarawak government today.
Kota Samarahan Municipal Council (MPKS) chairman Dato Peter Minos said the council had just received 26,000 face masks which were part of the Sarawakku Sayang Special Assistance Package.
The face masks were distributed by MPKS councillors and staff members, and they were assisted by volunteers from the neighbourhood watch committees (KRT) of the respective housing areas.
Since Kota Samarahan district is classified as a Covid-19 red zone, he said each household would receive a packet of six face masks.
He also mentioned that distribution of the face masks is now taking place today and tomorrow, and he did not dismiss the possibility of extending it to another phase in order to cover more households.
“MPKS is covering 92 housing estates with 27,618 houses/ households or families. Of the housing estates, two are categorised as hot spots, namely Uni Garden and Taman Desa Ilmu which are now under active case detection exercises by the Health Department.
“I believe everyone can see how massive the distribution process to the housing estates in Kota Samarahan is. The current phase of distribution will most probably be done in two days, and the coming third phase may take the same amount of time,” he said.
Minos also explained that the earlier batch of free face masks received by Samarahan Division have already been distributed to villages in the division by officials from the Resident and District Offices.
“On behalf of MPKS, we say thank you to Sarawak government for giving the free face masks. This gesture is greatly appreciated by MPKS and the locals.
“Let us all work together in getting rid of Covid-19 in any way we possibly can, and keep complying with the Movement Control Order (MCO),” he advised.
Before this, residents in Kota Samarahan had queried via social media on why they had not been given the free face masks as Kota Samarahan district was categorised as a Covid-19 red zone.
According to previous news reports, every household in red zones would receive a packet of six face masks while those in yellow and green zones would receive four masks per household.
The distribution of face masks under the state government’s Sarawakku Sayang Special Assistance Package started on April 17, with an approximate 1.2 million pieces allocated for households in Kuching, Samarahan and Serian.