Decision to lift current restriction takes into account health and economy aspects of state, says Deputy Chief Minister
KUCHING: The Sarawak Disaster Management Committee (SDMC) has decided that inter-zone travel in the state will be allowed beginning this Saturday.
Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah, who is also SDMC chairman, says the committee has examined the number of Covid-19 cases and has also discussed in detail with the Ministry of Health and tourism industry players, taking into account the health and economy aspects of Sarawak.
“After taking into consideration the issues mentioned, the committee has decided to allow inter-zone travel without needing permits from the police, effective Aug 15,” he said in a press conference here yesterday.
Uggah addresses the press conference.
SDMC, on July 27, announced the two-week inter-zone travel restriction starting Aug 1, following a surge in Covid-19 cases in Kuching District that week.
The district alone had recorded 22 new cases on July 28 – the highest in Sarawak since the Covid-19 outbreak emerged in the state in March this year.
The restriction required the need for a police permit for travel between Zone 1 (Kuching, Serian and Samarahan divisions) and Zone 2 (Sri Aman, Betong, Sarikei, Sibu, Kapit, Mukah, Bintulu, Miri and Limbang divisions).
On a related note, Uggah said all business premises must record the names and contact details of every individual entering their premises, either manually or via the MySejahtera, Qmunity or CovidTrace apps.
“Although it is by law for all business premises to use MySejahtera app to record visitors coming to their premises, it is up to the visitors or customers on which app or method that they prefer to use when checking in.
“They (customers and visitors) will have more choices to check in,” he said, adding that it was not a must for customers and visitors to check in using only the MySejahtera app.
He was commenting on the announcement by Senior Minister (Security Cluster) Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob on Aug 3 about the government having mandated the use of the MySejahtera app in all business premises.
Ismail Sabri said premises could also use other apps in addition to MySejahtera, but that they must also have the MySejahtera app ready.
He also said exemptions would be given to premises in rural areas that did not have stable Internet connectivity, whereby these premises would be allowed to keep manual records.
Meanwhile on the latest Covid-19 situation in Sarawak, Uggah said the total number of cases to date remained at 681 after no new infections were recorded yesterday.
He added that Kuching would be declared a Covid-19 green zone if no new local cases detected
are detected over the next four days.
“We wait and see,” he said.
He also reported four new recoveries at Sarawak General Hospital (SGH) involving three cases from Kuching district and one from Serian district.
“This brings the total to 656 cases or 96.3 per cent recovered and discharged in the state to date,” he said, adding only six cases remain under treatment at SGH.
On person-under-investigation (PUI) cases, Uggah said 34 new cases were recorded yesterday with only one waiting for the lab test result.
At the same time, he said the number of individuals undergoing compulsory quarantine rose to 928 with the addition of 93 new persons-under-surveillance yesterday.
He also reminded the public that there are still 10 active Covid-19 clusters in Sarawak, namely the Engineering Company Cluster which has eight cases; Mambong Cluster (7); Medical Centre Cluster (3); Jupiter Cluster (3); Stutong Market Cluster (7); Kuching Jetty Cluster (2); Sentosa Cluster (31); Melbourne PUI Cluster (3); Kuching Construction Company Cluster (2); and Satok Market Cluster (4).
“We have not won the (Covid-19) war yet. Let us continue to comply with the standard operating procedures to ensure that the chain of transmission is broken,” he said.
Sarawak has to date recorded 19 deaths from the coronavirus.