Chong (front, centre) talks to a medical frontliner during his visit to the centre at Mile 7.
KUCHING (Sept 4): Kota Sentosa assemblyman Chong Chieng Jen highlights a couple of shortcomings of the new Covid-19 testing centre at Mile 7 Basketball Court Stadium in Kota Sentosa here, namely the parking problem at the site and no provision of drive-thru swab-testing there.
In his visit to the centre yesterday, the Democratic Action Party (DAP) Sarawak chairman said he could see vehicles being parked along the road outside the centre.
He added that with road being a single-lane stretch, this could pose danger to vehicles moving past it.
“When I visited the centre, there were about 100 or so people queueing for their turns to be tested. Should the number increase further and both sides of the road outside the centre be lined with parked cars, this would make it very difficult for the vehicles to pass by each other,” said Chong.
He also noted that due to the constraint of space on the centre’s compound, there was no drive-thru swab-test. In this regard, he expressed concern about the risk of those waiting for their swab-tests being exposed to infection.
He said one of them, who had completed his swab-test, told him that he started queueing at around 6.30am but only had his test done at around 9am.
“It was reported by (Local Government and Housing Minister Dato Sri) Dr Sim Kui Hian in the press that the Delta variant would only take a few minutes of close-contact for it to spread.
“If this is so, these test centres are potential places for the spread of the Delta variant. To reduce the risk of infection, the State Disaster Management Committee (SDMC) should select places where drive-thru testing is possible,” said Chong, who is Stampin MP.
He also observed that the centre had insufficient medical staff.
He said there was no Health Ministry officer holding the position to issue the quarantine orders for those tested positive, or those Category A contact-persons who must be quarantined.
He said those required to be quarantined had been asked to go to the One-Stop Centre (OSC) at Dewan Masyarakat Kuching along Jalan Padungan here to collect their quarantine wristbands and to receive their formal quarantine orders.
“It makes absolutely no sense to require the people to go to two places – one for the swab-test, and another for the quarantine order. This would only facilitate the spread of the virus, instead of containing it,” he pointed out.
As such, the DAP lawmaker suggested relocating the centre at Mile 7 to Kuching International Airport (KIA), which had a huge existing carpark, as well as multi-lane roads to accommodate vehicles waiting by the road for drive-thru testing.
He observed that the airport here had remained under-utilised, due to the reduction of inbound and outbound flights.
In addition, Chong said the government should also increase the manpower and deploy a medical officer holding the necessary position to issue the quarantine order at the testing centre.
Separately, the DAP Kuching branch donated 50 boxes of mineral water and isotonic drinks to the frontliners at the Mile 7 Covid-19 testing centre.