Dr Sim (second left) speaks to reporters at the press conference as (from left) Dr Ngian, Uggah, Ik Pahon and Dr Rosemawati look on.
KUCHING (Feb 3): Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas has attributed the stable daily cases of Covid-19 to the discipline of Sarawakians who continue to adhere to standard operating procedures (SOPs) set to curb the spread of the virus.
He said he had previously expected that the daily number of Covid-19 cases would increase following the state election held at the end of last year.
“Our daily case number is relatively stable. We were actually worried that after the state election, there would be a spike in the number of cases recorded in Sarawak, but it seems that it is the other way around.
“This shows that the people of Sarawak are fully disciplined and observed the SOP during the election,” he added during a press conference held after the state level National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme for Kids (PICKids) launching ceremony at the Sarawak General Hospital (SGH) today.
Uggah, who is also State Disaster Management Committee (SDMC) chairman, however, continued to appeal to Sarawakians to remain disciplined so that the number of Covid-19 cases does not increase dramatically in the future.
He said the second factor why the state’s daily cases remained stable was the high rate of booster dose vaccination for Sarawakians, thanks to the programmes introduced by the government.
He said as of February 2, 2022 Sarawak had managed to give two doses of vaccination to 1.87 million people or 91.8 per cent of the adult population aged 18 years old and above.
“A total of 259,432 (88.4 per cent) of teenagers aged 12 to 17 years old and a total of more than 2.13 million people (75.8 per cent) of Sarawakians have received two doses of vaccination,” he said.
As for the booster dose, he said 83.3 per cent of those eligible had received the jab.
Meanwhile, Deputy Chief Minister and Minister of Public Health, Local Government and Housing Dato Sri Dr Sim Kui Hian at the same press conference also commented that Sarawak’s success in stabilising daily cases is the result of unity among its people.
“Unity can be seen through the success of our Covid-19 immunisation programme which received good response from the people. Now it is our target to vaccinate children aged five to 11,” said Dr Sim.
The Ministry of Health (MoH) is targeting 70 per cent of eligible children and in the education system to be given the first dose of Pfizer vaccine within two months from now.
Also present during the press conference were SDMC deputy chairman Datu Ik Pahon Joyik, state deputy director of Health Dr Rosemawati Ariffin and SGH director Dr Ngian Hie Ung.