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KUCHING, Feb 19 ― Datuk Seri Dr Sim Kui Hian has highlighted a stark difference between the Covid-19 war in Sarawak and the rest of the country, pointing out that Sarawak was now in the “containment” phase while other states were in the “mitigation” phase.
The housing and local government minister said he expected Sarawak to continue recording three digit daily cases for a few days because of the PCR tests, which is carried out twice, in areas under the enhanced movement control order (EMCO).
“In Sarawak, we are different from rest of Malaysia, we are in containment phase and we continue to test, test and test!
“Rest of Malaysia, in mitigation phase, you test only if symptomatic, hence may see drop in numbers but may not see drop in infection as unable to break the chain!,” said Dr Sim in a Facebook post last night.
In this respect, he reiterated that people who felt unwell or believe they might have been exposed to the virus to come forward to be assessed for Covid-19 risk and free PCR tests at any government health clinics or at a fee at private medical centres.
“While waiting for the PCR results, you should be self isolated, not mixing with your family, not going to work till the result is out. Please don’t go out of your house. The only reason they may do so is to seek medical attention or undergo repeat PCR swabbing test.
“We observe many had continued moving around Kuching Samarahan despite being symptomatic!,” he said.
Dr Sim also pointed out that fever was not a common symptom of Covid-19 infection but sore throat and runny nose that rarely affect stamina or physical activities were the most common manifestations of infection.
He added that other less common signs of infection were lost of taste and smell.
Sarawak has taken a targetted approach at containing the Covid-19 outbreak by locking down specific areas where a large number of cases have been detected under the EMCO for a period of two weeks.
Yesterday, Sarawak recorded 200 new cases and two deaths bringing the total to 7,425 cases and 67 fatalities since the outbreak started in the state last March. ― Borneo Post