Phoong Jin Zhe (left) and Chan Foong Hin.
KOTA KINABALU: The Sabah State Government has been urged to act according to Sabah’s pandemic situation while the nation is anticipating whether the total lockdown would end after June 28.
Democratic Action Party (DAP) Member of Parliament for Kota Kinabalu Chan Foong Hin and Luyang State Assemblyman Phoong Jin Zhe said the state had seen a decline in positive Covid-19 cases over the last three days where Sabah records less than 200 cases daily.
“The Sabah State Government should consider to introduce our own recovery plan as the National Recovery Plan would only reopen partial economic sectors if the nation records a daily case below 4,000. In our opinion, the state government should take a different approach as Sabah’s situation is improving in comparison to other states,” they said in a joint statement on Wednesday.
They added the Sabah State Government must take a few crucial factors into consideration while planning the state’s own recovery plan. The plan must state clearly on which sectors are allowed to reopen in every phase with strict standard operating procedures (SOPs).
“When the state government announced the prohibition of dine-in, Sabah recorded a record high of 308 Covid-19 positive cases. We believe that with the current contained situation in Sabah, the state government should look into allowing dine-in after the 28th of June. The government should also understand the financial hardships of the people and consider to reopen economic sectors such as hairdresser, traditional Chinese medicine, chiropractic, physiotherapy, beauty salons, boutiques and others with strict SOPs,” said the DAP representatives.
However, they said social activities and events must be strictly prohibited to prevent any unnecessary clusters.
“The Sabah State Government launched the Zero Covid-19 campaign recently and we agree with the efforts of speeding up the vaccination program. The Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor stated that the state is aiming to jab 30,000 doses of vaccine on a daily basis starting from July. We hope that the government will fulfil their promises and speed up the vaccination program to curb this pandemic,” they said.
Chan and Phoong added the government must also vaccinate the critical sector employees first as well as they are categorised as high risk groups as well.
“The total number of vaccine jabbed yesterday has decreased comparing to the week before. According to the minister’s daily statement, a week ago on 16th of June 2021, 16,873 doses were jabbed.
However, on the 22nd of June, only 9,990 people were vaccinated. This is a big gap comparing to the 30,000 goal set by the state government. If Sabah is going to reopen partial economic sectors after 28th of June, the vaccination rate must sped up. With this progress, it is doubtful that the Zero Covid-19 campaign would success,” he added.
“Instead of setting a goal on paper, we would like to question the state government on what are the efforts by the government to ensure that we are on track?
“We would like to reiterate our stance that enforcement should continue to ensure that SOPs are complied.
We would also like to urge everyone to register for the vaccine to help the state to achieve herd immunity as soon as possible to curb this pandemic and restore our life back to pre-Covid-19.”