KAPIT, June 2 — Deputy Chief Minister Tan Sri Dr James Masing today called on the Ministry of Health and the Sarawak Disaster Management Committee (SDMC) to build a low-risk Covid-19 quarantine and treatment centre (PKRC) near the Baleh dam construction site in Kapit Division.
He said the setting-up of the centre near the Baleh dam site where a Covid-19 cluster had broken out would reduce the pressure on the use of Dewan Suarah and the indoor stadium for Covid-19 positive cases.
“In this way, we can isolate the positive cases from non-Covid-19 patients. The chain of spread, therefore, can be cut,” he said in a statement.
He said Kapit Division will soon be running out of Covid-19 facilities if the present trend of infections continues.
He added at any one time there are on average 130 positive cases per day in the division while persons under surveillance (PUIs) for Covid-19 are placed at the youth hostel and rest house (rumah temuai) in Kapit town.
He said the more serious cases are placed in Kapit Hospital which has reached its full capacity, adding that both Dewan Suarah and Indoor Stadium will be running out of space for Covid-19 patients soon.
He urged the MOH and SDMC to also build more low-risk centres in areas where the number of positive cases is rising, such as in Bintulu and Miri.
“At the same time, we can push hard for vaccination in order to create big enough herd immunity.
“By building more centres and aggressive push for vaccination, we are attacking Covid-19 pandemic on two fronts. In this way we are in a better position to fight the pandemic in a shorter time,” he said.
He said when the pandemic is contained in the near future, the state government can use these centres for other purposes.
“The money is well spent for the construction of low-risk centres in red zone areas,” he said.
