KUCHING, April 28 — Bandar Kuching Member of Parliament Dr Kelvin Yii today called on the state government to introduce a clear and specific “alert level system” to replace the movement control order (MCO), conditional movement control order CMCO) and recovery movement control order (RMCO) for better compliance to break the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic.

He said his call is in light of the Sarawak Disaster Management Committee’s (SDMC) decision to extend the current conditional movement control order (CMCO) in Sarawak to May 17 and update its standard operating procedures (SOPs) for the different districts.

“While I support such a move especially with the high cases and even positive rate in Sarawak, but the ever-changing SOPs and conflicting SOPs between districts are causing a lot of confusion among the public and even business owners,” he said in a statement.

He added he has been receiving all kinds of feedback from them and many are more confused when they read the updated SOPs.

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“Many of them wants to follow the required SOPs and are diligently following it since the beginning but would want more certainty and clarity,” Dr Yii said, explaining why the government cannot continue to blame the public for not complying with SOPs if they are themselves are confusing.

He said the current movement control order (MCO), conditional movement control order CMCO) and recovery movement control order (RMCO) systems are confusing the public.

He cited the enforcement of a CMCO as an example where it differs from one period to another or even between districts.

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“The current CMCO enforced in Kuching is different from the ones enforced in Miri, Bintulu, or even Sibu.

“The CMCO introduced for the rest of Sarawak now is also different from the one introduced last year, but all of it shares the same name,” he said.

“In comparison, an “alert level system” is clear and specific where clear standard operating procedures (SOPs) are designated for each level, for example, Level 1, Level 1a, Level 2 and so and so forth.

“When each SOP is set for each level, all the government needs to announce is which level we are at for each district. So, all the public needs to do is to check the SOPs in each level and follow it accordingly,” he stressed.

He added this category of levels will then be based on specific parameters including transmission rates, positive rates, hospital pressures and deaths.

He said the government then can decide on these scientific measures to categories each district or even sub-district based on such granular data and then properly inform the public.

Dr Yii said he has been pushing for the alert level system since last year in Parliament, adding that with this there will be less confusion and conflicting SOPs which will result in better compliance.

“Enforcement should also be increased to help the public comply with the required SOPs but it must be educational in spirit, and not punitive,” he said.