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SIBU, Feb 16 — The poor and the under-privileged will suffer very badly if a month-long lockdown is imposed to prevent the spread of Covid-19 in Sibu.
Furthermore, Sibu town has a big rural-urban migrant population who are mostly daily workers, Senator Robert Lau said.
“Our situation here is very different than New Zealand for they are a developed country where they have the infrastructure, road and first world economy.
“Sarawak is more than 50 per cent still rural based with quite a lot of people depending on subsistence for living. The poor and the under-privileged will suffer very badly if we impose lockdown for the whole town,” he said during a Facebook live session hosted by Sibu Municipal Council (SMC) chairman Clarence Ting yesterday.
Earlier, Dr Clement Ting from Rejang Medical Centre opined that it was a bit premature for the state government to announce conditional movement control order (CMCO) for the whole of Sarawak, especially in Sibu where Covid-19 cases are still high.
He suggested one-month lockdown in Sibu like in New Zealand after three positive cases were detected there. To this, Lau said that one month lockdown would not be an issue for urban folk.
“But I do not think if we stay at home for one month, the whole thing will die down.
“In theory, a sledgehammer will work. But in reality it will not work. We still have borders and other people coming in,” he said.
Lau also said he agreed with the decision by the Sarawak Disaster Management Committee (SDMC) to impose CMCO for the whole state in a meeting last Saturday which he attended.
“But I said we must target where Covid-19 outbreak and cluster is detected. For example, when we look at number of positive cases in Sibujaya, half of it happened at the flats and 20 per cent at Townvilla area.
“So there is an outbreak at that area where there is communal living. In Sibujaya the communal living is in the flats where there are 1,600 families, very concentrated poor housing planning 20 years ago and the consequence is the price we pay now,” he said.
He also said that from 786 cases under SMC jurisdiction as of Feb 15, localities regarded as poorer segment of the town like at Jalan Tiong Hua, Jalan Tong Sang, Kampung Sentosa, Kampung Jeriah, Kampung Permai and Jalan Sukun recorded more than 50 cases each.
“So these areas we need to target. In theory we can be strict, enforce lockdown and get everyone to comply but being on the ground you will know that our society’s level of education background is very different.
“Sibu has a big rural-urban migrant population staying in town and they are daily workers. These people are not highly educated so they are not aware,” he said.
Other guests at the live session were Dr John Chew from Borneo Medical Centre and Dr Clement Chen from Rejang Medical Centre. — Borneo Post Online