A woman checks into a premises with the MySejahtera application. The Sarawak Business Federation has called for a revision of SOPs for the State’s southern zone. — Bernama photo
KUCHING (Sept 23): The Sarawak Business Federation (SBF) is calling for a revision of the current standard operating procedures (SOPs) set by the State Disaster Management Committee (SDMC) for the southern zone.
At present the southern zone of the State is still placed under Phase 2 of the National Recovery Plan (NRP).
“As we have already gone into a different phase of containing the outbreak of the pandemic, a different strategy must be adopted.
“As such, SBF is of the view that a revision of the SOPs for the region should be carried out just like what they have done at the Federal level recently,” the federation said in a statement.
SBF said under the revised guidelines set by the Federal government, all offices in the private sector operating in states under Phase 2 of the NRP have been allowed to operate under certain conditions since Sept 17.
Offices in the private sector are allowed to operate in full capacity if 80 per cent of the workforce has been fully vaccinated.
For those in the private sector with 60 per cent of the workforce fully inoculated, their offices are able to resume operations with a capacity of not more than 80 per cent.
Those with only 40 per cent of the workforce fully vaccinated can only resume operations with a capacity of 60 per cent.
In addition, SBF also appealed to the State government to lift the workforce capacity for the civil service, so that the delivery of service to businesses and the public would not be unduly disrupted.
“The government departments and statutory agencies should follow the same guidelines to normalise the civil service, which is instrumental to the recovery of our fragile economy.
“The public is now allowed to dine-in at restaurants and food and beverage outlets so there is no reason for us to continue to hold back the resumption of the capacity of workforce, whether in private or public sector, which is so crucial for supporting and maintaining the livelihoods of many people, particularly after achieving such a high rate of vaccination in the community,” added SBF.