Lina Soo
KUCHING (Aug 11): The rush to ease restrictions for fully vaccinated people is premature as Covid-19 cases in the country and in Sarawak are still stubbornly high, said Sarawak People’s Aspiration Party (Aspirasi) president Lina Soo.
She said even if there was a slight dip in the number of positive cases, Sarawakians and Malaysians as a whole should not let their guard down as ‘one swallow does not make a summer’.
“To manage the Covid-19 pandemic from the vaccination rate, rather than the number of infected, hospitalised and seriously ill, may yet prove to be foolhardy.
“This is because data has come in from other countries such as Israel and US that the spreaders of the Delta variant are from the vaccinated,” she said in response to the government’s announcement that Covid-19 restrictions would be eased starting yesterday for those who have been fully vaccinated.
Soo felt the decision to relax quarantine requirements for entry of the vaccinated into the country this time around was also an unwise move considering that the vaccinated are also spreaders.
Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin when making the announcement on Sunday said among the restrictions being lifted were inter-district and inter-state travel for long-distance couples, and prayers in houses of worship as well as the ban on dine-ins for states under Phase 2 and above of the National Recovery Plan.
Muhyiddin also said the Covid-19 digital vaccination certification will be used to verify an individual’s immunisation status to the authorities.
He said individuals would be considered fully vaccinated 14 days after receiving the second dose of either the Pfizer, AstraZeneca or Sinovac vaccines, and 28 days after being jabbed with the single-dose Johnson & Johnson or CanSino vaccines.
Parents who are fully vaccinated will be allowed to travel across borders and states to meet with their children aged below 18 years, he added.
Long-distance married couples who are fully vaccinated will be allowed to travel across districts and states to meet each other, while individuals who want to travel across borders must show their digital Covid-19 vaccination certificate to enforcement officers manning roadblocks.