KUCHING, Sept 13 — Datuk Sri Dr Sim Kui Hian has said that living together with Covid-19 means it is time to revert to a pre-pandemic level “as near normal as possible with lots of cautions”.
The Sarawak Disaster Management Committee advisor said this included resume work and businesses to protect livelihood and students returning to school for education to protect the future of all.
“It is also time to restart socio-cultural, religious and sports activities to protect our mental and spiritual well-being to a level as near normal as possible with lots of cautions without endangering the safety of the unvaccinated in our community,” he said in a Facebook post last night.
Dr Sim, who is Local Government and Housing Minister, said living with Covid-19 also meant that people had to acknowledge the fact that “it is exceedingly unlikely to have Covid-19 virus eradicated”.
Despite so, he said: “Covid-19 vaccine can keep vaccinated persons safe from death and severe diseases.”
He pointed out that family and social clusters were the two major contributing factors perpetuating Covid-19 in the state.
Given this, he said the community had to learn to re-start with new living norms in their social life and workplace.
According to him, Covid-19 in Sarawak this month is different from the situation in September last year.
“This is because we are now at a post-vaccination era and there is also this Delta variant wave. We are living with the virus and (many sectors need to) reopen safely.”
On the daily Covid-19 figures, Dr Sim said the community should focus on the number of cases falling under Category 3 (with pneumonia), 4 (with pneumonia and requiring oxygen) and 5 (with pneumonia and requiring ventilator).
He said it is equally vital to monitor the number of Covid-19 deaths, intensive care unit (ICU) beds and ICU patients on ventilator.
Of the 1,405 new infections reported in Kuching yesterday, he said 768 cases were detected through close contact tracing in 159 locations.
He added that 793 other cases were linked to clusters.
Localities here that recorded two-digit cases were Kpg Tabuan Hilir (22), Lrg Cahaya Damai (21), Kpg Bintawa (20), Tmn Malihah (17), Jln Stutong Baru (16), Tmn Indah Landeh (14), Kpg Senari (14), Kpg Tabuan Tengah (13), Kpg Muhibbah (13), Tabuan Foochow (12), Tmn Sepakat Jaya (12), Kpg Semariang (11), Kpg Tanjong Bako (11), Lrg Cahaya Mata (11) and RPR Batu Kawa (11). — Borneo Post
