Tupong assemblyman Fazzrudin Abdul Rahman said with mitigation, the strategy will be only to test symptomatic Covid-19 cases, which will contribute to a lower daily case tally and a reduced strain on the system.
KUCHING (Sept 8): Tupong assemblyman Fazzrudin Abdul Rahman has called on the Sarawak Disaster Management Committee (SDMC) to clarify on whether the current Covid-19 strategy is in the mitigation or containment phase.
He said with mitigation, the strategy will be only to test symptomatic Covid-19 cases, which will contribute to a lower daily case tally and a reduced strain on the system.
“However, with containment, mass testing is being done and with the high testing numbers, it will contribute to higher Covid-19 cases, raising alarm bells among members of the public who are fixated on assessing the current situation based on the number of cases alone,” he said in a statement.
Fazzrudin pointed out that with a better understanding of the government’s policy, it will allow the public to have some context in regards to the Covid-19 situation and boost public confidence in the government’s handling of the health crisis.
“At the same time, I also urge Sarawakians to be vigilant at all times amid the increased spread of Covid-19 and not let their guard down.
“While we carry on with our daily lives, we should not disregard the standard operating procedures (SOPs) as it is the only thing that will save us in the event of an outbreak,” he said.
His statement was issued following criticisms levelled by several quarters over the high number of cases in Sarawak in which the Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) state government and SDMC have been blamed for their handling of the pandemic.
Fazzrudin lamented that the opposition parties leveraged on the misinformation and ignorance of the people who take the daily figures of Covid-19 at face value without the appropriate context.
This instils panic and anxiety among the masses, he added.
“As political parties claiming to represent the people, they should at least make an effort to understand the gravity of the current Covid-19 situation which is aggravated by the spread of the Delta variant before issuing knee-jerk reactions,” he said.
He pointed out that SDMC, throughout its handling of Covid-19, has been getting the advice of health experts and epidemiologists to tackle the current situation.
As such, he said this has allowed the state to contain the spread of the cases to a manageable level until early this year when the Pasai outbreak occurred which triggered three digits daily cases for the first half of the year.
“Despite this, and with the rapid Covid-19 vaccine rollout, Sarawak has been able to reduce its cases in July with a significant decline, only for the cases to climb due to the spread of the Delta Covid-19 variant in August.
“It is now dawned on us that Covid-19, with its increasing variants will be an endemic in the state — meaning that it will continue to circulate in the population. It is clear that the Covid-19 adapts to the situation and so should we.”
He said from Sarawak’s daily cases of 3,714 on Sept 6, only four cases are from categories 3 to 5 with the remaining 3,710 cases are in Category 1 (no symptoms) and Category 2 (mild symptoms).
According to Fazzrudin again, this should be an indication that the state is in an endemic phase, a fact that is concurred by Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah in a Facebook post on Sept 6.
“Presently, despite the Delta variant, 99 per cent of the Covid-19 cases is in Category 1 and Category 2 with the high vaccination rate. This is similar to other developed countries which has high vaccination coverage such as the United Kingdom and Singapore.
“As mentioned by Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin on Sept 1, what is crucial now is the number of hospital admissions, intensive care unit (ICU) usage, the use of ventilators and deaths. This is what the indicators should be in this phase,” Fazzrudin said.