Abang Johari visiting the vaccination centre at Sri Aman Civic Centre. — Photo provided by UKAS
KUCHING (Sept 11): The state government will review the standard operating procedures (SOP) for entry into Sarawak once Covid-19 has reached the endemic phase in the state, said Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg.
He said that the government is still monitoring the situation and once confirmed by the Ministry of Health (MoH) that Sarawak has reached the endemic phase, they will review the SOP.
“For now, existing SOP are still in place, including 14-days quarantine for those entering Sarawak,” he told a press conference today in Sri Aman.
Abang Johari was visiting the vaccination centre for teenagers at the Sri Aman Civic Centre as well as checking on the progress of the Sri Aman Waterfront project.
On when economic sectors can be fully opened up, he said that it would only be when the community’s defence against the virus increase and infection rates go down.
“I just visited the Waterfront — that means that the construction sector can be opened. Besides that, the food sector is also open but must follow SOP,” he said.
Abang Johari said that with every division holding the vaccination programme for teenagers, it is hoped that when the programme completes by the end of the year that there will be herd immunity in the entire state.
“We have to live with Covid-19. WIth cases now mostly in Category 1 (no symptoms and not dangerous) we will reach endemic stage. We just need to take care of the SOP.
“The testing will continue and positive cases will still go into the record. In such situation, what the community can do is to look after themselves,” he said, while suggesting that people get their own self-testing kits as well.
Touching on the vaccination programme in Sri Aman, Abang Johari sasid that a total of seven schools involving 2,179 students aged 16 to 17 years old will be getting their Covid-19 vaccine starting from Sept 8.
It is part of the statewide effort in getting teenagers in that age group fully vaccinated before schools reopen on Oct 3.
“As of September 9, a total of 840 teens have received the first dose of Covid-19 vaccination, involving four secondary schools namely SMK Engkilili, SMK Lubok Antu, SMK Melugu and SMK St Luke.
“I believe that with the vaccination programme, we can protect our teenagers who will be getting ready to go back to school,” he said.
Those aged between 12 to 15 years old are expected to be vaccinated starting end of this month, depending on vaccine availability.
Also present were Sarawak Disaster Management Committee (SDMC) chairman Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas, SDMC advisor Dato Sri Dr Sim Kui Hian, and others.