Uggah (second left) and Dr Jerip (first left) being briefed on the lockdown situation at Emperoh Jambu by Dr Chong Yaw Liang of the Kuching Resident’s office.
KUCHING (Feb 27): A group of 1,688 people who are mostly frontliners have received their Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines on the first day of the state vaccination programme rollout, said Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas.
Uggah, who is also Sarawak Disaster Management Committee (SDMC) chairman, said the programme, which begun yesterday (Feb 26), had proceeded without a hitch.
“It is going to be a very massive and challenging operation. We are going to vaccinate 2.2 million people. This is a massive number.
“This is one of the most massive operations for SDMC. That is why we have to be very meticulous and detailed in our planning.
“We want to reach out to everyone who wants to be vaccinated and are eligible to be vaccinated. But I am confident that the respective divisional disaster management committees will be able to play their roles effectively with the experience they have,” he said to the media after visiting the Kampung Emperoh Jambu Covid-19 Pandemic Lockdown Operation Room near here today.
Uggah also said he was appalled at a certain news report which stated that the state had only managed to vaccinate 132 people.
“This is fake news. People should write based on facts,” he said.
Touching on the state vaccination rollout , Uggah said vaccinations were held in centres in various parts of the state except for the Bintulu, Miri and Limbang Divisions.
On the rollout in rural areas, he said preparations were ongoing.
“This will be done in Phase Two in April.
“We are now getting the respective district offices to do the registration and for the health clinics to check on the health status of those wanting to be vaccinated.
“Overall, we target to conclude the state-wide rollout by August. But this will depend on our supply of vaccines,” he said.
On the lockdown or Enhanced Movement Control Order (EMCO) for Kampung Emperoh Jambu, Uggah said this was because the number of people affected from the cluster had increased.
“We have detected 155 positive cases of which 60 are the villagers themselves. (Therefore), we need to bring the situation under control and that is why we enforced the lockdown from Feb 23 to March 8.
“We are very sorry for the inconveniences but this is inevitable in order to stop the spread and to save lives. We hope the villagers will cooperate by staying home.
“Please do not gather around or visit each other. If we confine ourselves to our homes, we can stop the spread as well as avoiding getting infected,” he said.
Uggah also said the SDMC would now only focus on the specific area affected instead of locking down the whole division or district.
“Our strategy is to detect, test, trace, isolate and support. We have been doing this successfully in a number of places with positive cases.
“We have managed to bring the situation under control where we have reduced and then put an end to the spread.”
During the visit, Uggah also presented foodstuffs donated by non governmental organisations, the area’s elected representatives and the private sectors to Penghulu Richard Daho who received them on behalf of the villagers.
Also present accompanying Uggah were Assistant Minister of Transport and Mambong assemblyman Datuk Dr Jerip Susil, Deputy State Secretary Datu Ik Pahon Joyik and State Health Department Director Dr Chin Zing Hing.
They were joined by Member of Parliament for Puncak Borneo Datuk Willie Mongin, who is also deputy Minister of Plantation Industries and Commodities.
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