KUCHING, July 15 — Sarawak Disaster Management Committee (SDMC) advisor Datuk Seri Dr Sim Kui Hian has urged the state Health Department to conduct a thorough investigation into the Covid-19 outbreak at the Sentosa Hospital here.
He said, apart from the routine epidemiological investigation, the department should find out how many staff, who are frontliners, and in-patients have been vaccinated with two doses during the first phase of the immunisation programme.
“What types of vaccines were used and how long ago have they been vaccinated as well as on close contacts,” he said in a statement posted on his Facebook.
Dr Sim, who is also the state minister of Local Government and Housing said he had asked the department to work closely with Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas) on a genomics study.
He said unlike the results of the reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction tests which come out on the same day, the genomics study takes one to two weeks for the results to be known.
“There should be no pointing of fingers Focus on the investigation and its outcome so that we can prepare ourselves (can translate into policy and actions),” he said.
He added this is the second time that a Covid-19 infections outbreak has occurred at the Sentosa Hospital which has now been placed under total lockdown.
As of yesterday, 52 individuals, including hospital staff, have been infected with Covid-19 while the test results of another 129 are still pending.
The Kuching district accounted for 137 out of 289 cases in Sarawak yesterday
Dr Sim said the localities in the Kuching district with more than three cases included Kampung Tabuan Lot (11 cases), Kampung Seratau (six), Lorong Cahaya Damai (five), Kampung Tabuan Melayu (four), Kampung Astana Lot (four), Kampung Bintangor (four), Kampung Batu Kitang (four) and Kampung Semerah Padi (four).
