James Masing
KUCHING (April 27): Deputy Chief Minister Tan Sri Dr James Masing wants Sarawak Energy Berhad (SEB) and its contractor to be held accountable if their employees are found to be the root cause of the Covid-19 Putai Cluster in Bukit Mabong in Kapit, more so if they are illegal workers.
“If by any chance some of those tested positive, were illegal workers, then both SEB and CGGC, must be made accountable and provide facilities for them to be quarantined on site under Low Risk Quarantine Centre,” he said in a press statement, referring to the China Gezhouba Group Company Limited (CGCG).
“During the health pandemic caused by Covid-19, we must all abide by the government instructions via the state disaster management committee (SDMC) standard operating procedures (SOP), including SEB.”
He pointed out that Bukit Mabong, where the Baleh hydroelectric dam project was now under construction, had been badly hit by the CovId-19 cluster.
As of Tuesday, out of 950 tested in the Putai Cluster, 308 were found Covid-19 positive, 577 were negative and 65 were categorised as persons under investigation (PUI).
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Masing, who is the Infrastructure and Ports Development Minister, lamented that Bukit Mabong was now a Covid-19 red zone and he was concern that there would be more cases in the district once the results of the PUI cases were out.
“As I feared at the beginning of this pandemic in 2020, we must safeguard rural areas especially longhouse dwellers. Their social culture of getting together is a petri dish for Coronavirus to grow and spread.
“I urge all GLCs and government departments in carrying out their works must stringently abide by SOPs spelt out by SDMC and the Ministry of Health,” said Masing, who is also Parti Rakyat Sarawak (PRS) president.
The Health Ministry categorises districts with no Covid-19 cases as green zones, while those with one to 20 cases over a two-week period as yellow zones, 21 to 40 as orange zones and 41 and above as red zones.