BINTULU, April 8 — Anyone who needs to pass through Bintulu Division to travel to other districts or divisions until April 18 will not be allowed to continue on their journey without a negative Covid-19 test.
Bintulu Division Disaster Management Committee (BDDMC) chairman Jack Aman Luat stressed the decision is final.
He said everyone must comply with the requirement, which is part of Bintulu’s inter-division entry Covid-19 standard operating procedure (SOP).
“Yesterday (April 7) during the State Disaster Management Committee (SDMC) meeting, what I said, the SOP will still be used,” he said when contacted.
He reiterated the drastic move needs to be implemented in the effort to reduce the number of positive cases here due to travellers from other districts and divisions.
On Tuesday, Bintulu Health officer Dr Melvin Chung had said this mechanism would help the Ministry of Health (MoH) to contain and reduce the number of positive cases.
He said based on the previous incidents, it was difficult to determine the travel history of the positive Covid-19 patients, especially those who were not telling the truth.
The complete entry SOP can be downloaded from the Bintulu Resident’s Office website at https://bintulu.sarawak.gov.my.
BDDMC’s decision to impose the mandatory Covid-19 swab test before entry by land or air into Bintulu from April 5-18 has been questioned by many parties.
SDMC chairman Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas had on Tuesday called on BDDMC to fine-tune its directive to enable seamless travel for those who are just passing through the division. — Borneo Post
