Chew
KOTA KINABALU: Crowd per square foot, design and usage of premises and engagement with stakeholders should be taken into consideration in the Hotspots Identification for Dynamic Engagement (HIDE) system, said Grand Merdeka Mall developer Datuk Chew Sang Hai.
He said three shopping malls in Sabah, namely Centre Point, Suria Sabah and Karamunsing Complex, were listed as potential Covid-19 hotspots under the HIDE system.
“From the perspective of consumers, these premises are high risk Covid-19 hotspots which they should stay away from.
“And that does not augur well for Sabah’s economy,” he said on Sunday.
Chew said the HIDE system may not reflect the actual Covid-19 risk accurately.
He said the crowd in a shopping mall should be calculated based on crowd per square foot, rather than the overall number of shoppers collected via the MySejahtera application.
He said the risk of Covid-19 transmission may be lower in a large shopping mall with more shoppers than a smaller mall with fewer shoppers.
“The potential risk of shopping malls turning into Covid-19 hotspots should be calculated based on crowd per square foot, not the overall number of shoppers.”
He said some shoppers also opted to jot their names down in a book rather than using the check-in feature of the MySejahtera application, which was another problem.
Chew continued to say that the design and usage of premises should also be taken into account under the HIDE system.
He said shopping malls were designed with broad walkways, as opposed to narrow walkways in Ramadan bazaars, which posed higher risk of Covid-19 transmission.
He said the government should consult with the stakeholders in producing the HIDE list.
“The aforementioned factors should be considered by the government in determining potential Covid-19 hotspots under the HIDE system.”
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