SOPs requiring govt office closures when Covid-19 cases detected a concern, says Masing

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James Masing

KUCHING (Sept 8): The standard operating procedures (SOPs) requiring the lockdown or closure of government offices when one or two Covid-19 cases are detected among staff is a concern, said Tan Sri Datuk Amar Dr James Jemut Masing.

The Deputy Chief Minister said this is because the people have been told that the virus is not going away any time soon.

“This virus, I was informed, will be with us for a while, and if we follow the current lockdown SOPs in government offices every time there is a Covid-19 positive found among the staff member(s), we are in for a long haul,” he said in a statement today.

The Infrastructure and Ports Development Minister pointed out that businesses and industries would also suffer over the long term.

“If businesses, especially those which employ daily paid workers, are slow in opening due to the delay in processes to prepare and approve the required documentation by relevant government departments as a result of periodically closing government offices in fear of Covid-19, then this country’s economic recovery will be in trouble,” he said.

Masing opined that there must strategic economic moves in order to live with the Covid-19 virus and to get the private sector involved in economic recovery plans.

“They are the government’s strategic partners in our development. Currently the Ministry of Health is doing the correct steps by moving us into the relevant phases (2 and 3) in economic recovery.

“I just hope they are fast enough to catch up with this ever-evolving and mutating virus,” he said.