ACCCIS secretary Jonathan Chai
KUCHING (Sept 9): A complete lockdown may not be a viable solution to the spike of Covid-19 positive cases in Sarawak as it will adversely impact our already fragile economy, according to Associated Chinese Chambers of Commerce and Industry of Sarawak (ACCCIS) secretary general Jonathan Chai.
“If our vaccination rate is still low with the rising number of positive cases, I will support the call for a complete lockdown. However, we have already gone into a different phase of containing the outbreak of the virus and a different strategy must be adopted,” he said when asked to comment on calls by Malaysian Trade Union Congress (MTUC) Sarawak for a total lockdown to stop the surge in Covid-19 cases.
Chai believes most businesses are not in favour of a total lockdown which he feared could be ‘an outdated approach,’ arguing that everyone should accept the reality that Covid-19 could be endemic and we need to learn to live with the virus.
“Just learn from the experience of what have gone through during the decree of emergency many months ago, a lockdown had not helped much in bringing down the number of positive cases. In fact, the country had registered even higher numbers of positive cases daily after the emergency was declared,” he said.
He pointed out the spike in cases should not overshadow the fact that vaccination has been instrumental in mitigating and reducing the severity of the virus infection and the need of hospitalization.
“As disclosed by the newly appointed Minister of Health Khairy Jamaluddin recently, steps are being taken by the government to prepare a new set of standard operating procedures (SOP) to guide the public on living with Covid-19 as the virus becomes an endemic.
“This is consistent with the approach that has been taken by several other developed countries where they have moved from the pandemic measures like total containment to accepting it as an endemic. While Delta variant has driven infection waves in these nations, vaccinations are vastly reducing serious illnesses and deaths,” Chai added.
He cited examples such as in Denmark where 70 percent of its eligible population are vaccinated and almost all restrictions have been dropped. Australia, he added, has changed its strategy because they knew that it would be disastrous for its economy if the lockdown continues, quoting its Prime Minister Scott Morrison as saying ‘It’s time to leave lockdowns’ and ‘come out of the cave’.
However, Chai agreed with the proposal by MTUC Sarawak secretary Andrew Lo that the government provide one-third wage subsidies; employer to pay one-third and the employee to sacrifice one-third of the wages, subject to minimum wage of RM1,200, for employee placed under self-lockdown or quarantine.
He said it would be helpful to alleviate the financial burden of the businesses in the event if any business is ordered to close down temporarily because of any positive case in the workplace.
“Self-quarantine at home requires a very strong sense of self discipline on the virus carrier and sadly, not everyone possesses that character or attitude. Perhaps, the state government and Sarawak Disaster Management Committee (SDMC) should think of a better way to accommodate those who have been asked to self-quarantine at home.
“Without proper monitoring and tightened supervision, those who are asked to quarantine at home have conveniently become the potential cluster of infection,” he said.