Uggah speaking to reporters. – Photo by Muhammad Rais Sanusi
KUCHING (Nov 1): Deputy Premier Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas has advised the public to heed the Health Ministry’s advice as the country is experiencing a small wave of Covid-19 cases following the emergence of the Omicron XBB sub-variant.
Uggah, who is the Sarawak Disaster Management Committee (SDMC) chairman, appealed to all Sarawakians to take the necessary precautions to prevent a bigger spread of infection.
“Especially in this coming 15th general election, you must take precautions as much as possible.
“Please wear (face) mask when you’re in a big crowd,” he said when met by reporters after officiating the Borneo Occupational Safety and Health (BOSH) Conference and Exhibition at a leading hotel here today.
Uggah said precautions are necessary as Sarawak is still recording Covid-19 cases every day.
“Today we have 48 cases. It (Covid-19) is still around so please take precautions.
“With the new (sub-)variant, which we really do not know the degree of seriousness, it is more important for us to continue to be vigilant,” he added.
Yesterday, caretaker Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin said that Malaysia is currently experiencing a small wave of Covid-19 cases following the discovery of the Omicron XBB sub-variant in the country.
He told a press conference in Putrajaya that based on daily data, the number of new Covid-19 cases has increased by 16.5 per cent, from 14,525 cases in Epidemiological Week (EW) 42 to 16,917 cases in EW 43 (Oct 23 to 29).
“We suspect that the XBB sub-variant is behind this upward trend [and]is also the cause of the wave in Singapore which has taken three to four weeks to decrease.
“Perhaps, we are also facing an XBB variant infection with four cases detected as of Oct 27,” he was quoted as saying.