Goon (centre) accompanied Dr Joachim (left) and Department of Industrial Development and Research director Tseu Kei Yue during a visit to the small and medium enterprises in Sandakan recently.
KOTA KINABALU: Some eatery operators have started deny refuse entry to those who have not completed the two doses of Covid-19 vaccination.
The initiative taken by the operators is commendable but it has created inconvenience to the people who have yet to complete the double doses.
Chinese relations officer for Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Dr Joachim Gunsalam, Goon Thien Shang, hoped the operators could be more considerate as the state government has given them a one-month grace period until mid-September to enforce the new standard operating procedure (SOP).
Based on feedback, Goon said many operators in and around Kota Kinabalu and Penampang areas have started to enforce the ‘no entry’ on those who have yet to receive the full vaccination starting this week.
“I have made a random survey and found out that some restaurants only allow the customers who have completed the full vaccination to dine in whilst those who got their first jab are allowed to order take away food only.
“Some coffee shops allow the customers who have completed the full vaccination to sit inside and those who only receive their first jab would be asked to dine outside the premises,” said Goon.
At least two food courts have been closed for dine-in since the state government announced that full vaccination requirements for workers of eateries and supermarkets before they can operate, he noted.
“I was told that these two food courts have taken their own initiative to disallow dine-in due to the spike of Covid-19 cases, especially in Penampang area.
“Instead of practising physical distancing inside the food courts they had decided to close for dine-in but still allow take away.”
Given the worrisome situation of the eateries, we hope that the federal government could accelerate the delivery of vaccines to Sabah to enable the people to receive their second shots on time, he said.
“We also hope the Health Ministry could open up more vaccination centres to speed up the inoculation, otherwise next month there would be many people complaining about being unable to enter supermarkets and eateries.
“Not only that, many supermarkets’ and eateries’ workers would not be able to go to work without the full vaccination and this will affect the business operations,” he said.
“We also hope that the new standard operating procedures to be enforced next month will encourage the people to quickly get themselves inoculated to help the state to achieve herd immunity before year’s end,” he said.