Abang Johari inspects a vaccination booth at Dewan Majma. – Photo by Roystein Emmor
KUCHING (July 1): It is still premature for Sarawak to set a threshold for lifting the district-to-district movement control order (MCO), says Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Tun Openg.
He said Sarawak still follows the thresholds afforded by the National Recovery Plan (NRP).
“Sarawak Disaster Management Committee (SDMC), which is chaired by Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah, is looking into the matter. We do think about it but it’s still premature,” he told a press conference during a visit to Jalan Masjid Health Clinic vaccination centre at Dewan Majma here today.
“This is our view only. The number of daily Covid-19 cases in Malaysia fluctuates between 4,000 and 6,000 cases. The largest number of daily cases is in Selangor and we are being pulled down by the number of daily cases there (Selangor),” he said.
Abang Johari chairs a press conference. Also seen are Uggah (seated left) and Dr Sim. – Photo by Roystein Emmor
The existing threshold is good so that the nation can slowly reopen various business sectors one-by-one but it would still be premature for Sarawak to set a threshold to lift the district-to-district MCO.
The NRP states that the MCO would move from the present phase one of recovery period into phase two once the number of Covid-19 daily cases drops below 4,000 apart from having moderate number of available beds in the ICUs and the number of people vaccinated is growing.
Abang Johari is also confident that the state could achieve the target of having 80 per cent of adults vaccinated to activate herd immunity by August.
He said Sarawak had so far vaccinated more than 50 per cent of eligible recipients of vaccines, namely Pfizer BioNtech, Sinovac and AstraZeneca.
As far as Kuching is concerned out of the about 583,000 eligible residents, the state health authority has vaccinated about 291,000 of them.
He said when the Cansino vaccine arrives in Sarawak this month, the state health authority could probably quicken the pace of the vaccination process.
He said the Cansino vaccine is suitable for rural folk as it’s administration only requires one dose per person.
He also said that since the state government is very focused on health and safety of the people, talks on the next state election is being put on the back burner for now.
Uggah who is also Deputy Chief Minister, and SDMC advisor Dato Sri Dr Sim Kui Hian who is also Minister of Housing and Local Government were among those present at the event.