Tiong inspects the streets and shops in Bintulu and meeting people in the street.
KUCHING: Bintulu MP Datuk Seri Tiong King Sing has called for tighter standard operating procedures (SOP) for businesses in Sarawak to curb the spread of Covid-19 particularly during this festive season.
The Progressive Democratic Party (PDP) president said the State Disaster Management Committee and state Health Department must not allow businesses with positive cases among their employees to continue operating with the Lunar New Year around the corner.
“To delay closing businesses and stores with employees positive with Covid-19 is to allow for easier transmission of the pandemic. If the SOP is relaxed, it could undermine all the hard work done to contain the pandemic in recent days,” he said in a statement yesterday.
He could understand that business owners wanted to garner as much profit as possible during this festive season, especially after a long period of economic uncertainties.
But he insisted that public health must come first.
“It is important for all businesses and their employees to cooperate in containing Covid-19. When health officers come for contact tracing on the number of confirmed patients and their close contacts, those involved must truthfully provide the relevant information, such as number of employees and working hours, for proper quarantine and testing to be done.
“Those businesses with confirmed cases must also temporarily stop business and reopen after the state Health Department has verified that the risk of infection has reached a safe level,” he said.
Tiong cautioned that businesses found to have intentionally concealed or withheld pertinent information may face legal action.
“This is particularly crucial in the area of contact tracing by the medical personnel. Wrongly given information or misinformation could potentially lead to a breakdown in the entire pandemic containment operation.
“If close contacts are not identified and isolated, this could allow potential carriers to infect even more people as they travel. Whole clusters could form and it would make it much more difficult to contain,” he warned.
He also told businesses to take it upon themselves to prioritise health over profits.
“If our family members and friends are being sacrificed for a bit more profits, what is the use of the extra money?” he asked.
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