KUCHING, Aug 24 — A surge in the number of people going for Covid-19 swab test at Kuching South City Council (MBKS) Community Hall here yesterday led to traffic congestion along Jalan Pending.
Observations by The Borneo Post at 10am found vehicles lining up along Jalan Pending, headed towards the hall’s drive-thru swab test area.
An aerial view of the hall also saw vehicles lining up along Canna Lily Boulevard, exiting the MBKS building area and making a left turn towards the hall.
People were also seen lining up along the roadside pedestrian path to the hall.
The police as well as People’s Volunteer Corps (Rela) personnel were seen controlling the traffic flow.
When contacted by The Borneo Post, Kuching South mayor Dato Wee Hong Seng confirmed the situation, saying that there was an increase in the number of individuals coming for the swab test, and that the personnel there also catered for those who needed to undergo second swab tests.
He added that this situation usually happened after the weekends or public holidays and the traffic jam would usually occur from 8am onwards but would reduce towards noon.
“During early morning the (traffic) jam is quite bad, but today seems to be worst. We have informed the police and Rela to assist, as there are lots of them cutting the queue.
“I’m sure it has caused inconvenience and traffic jams at (nearby) areas but we are doing our best,” he said.
On another matter, Wee expressed his concerns on the medical frontliners and personnel posted at the swab test area as they had to cope with the increasing number of people coming in for the test.
“The frontliners are doing their best, so please, while you think the jam caused the inconvenience, the long queue of people waiting for the swab test, do consider them too. They are there every day, some of them never take off days, some of them work on public holidays and the weekends,” he said.
Expressing his hope that the number of Covid-19 cases will go down soon, he asserted that the best solution to this situation is to set up another drive-through swab test centre.
However, when asked as to where and when the new centre would be set up, he said that MBKS would need to study and look into the areas suitable for setting up the centre.
He added that MBKS will leave it to the State Disaster Management Committee (SDMC) to decide on the centre’s location, adding: “It is my opinion to cater for the increasing number of people to attend the swab test.”
“Let us pray there will be less cases and please avoid going to crowded places, follow strictly the SOP, help yourself, help the frontliners and the medical personnel and help Sarawak,” he said. — Borneo Post Online
