Kho defends Dr Sim’s action in disclosing occupations, locations frequented by Covid-19 patients

Kho Teck Wan

KUCHING (Oct 26): Sarawak United Peoples’ Party (SUPP) Women chief Kho Teck Wan has defended Local Government and Housing Minister Dato Sri Dr Sim Kui Hian’s actions in disclosing the occupation and locations frequented by Covid-19 patients recently.

Responding to Parti Sarawak Bersatu (PSB) and Democratic Action Party (DAP)’s criticisms of the minister’s actions, Kho said that no personal identifiable information such identity card or names were disclosed in Dr Sim’s statement.

“Dr Sim is a world renown cardiologist who is well aware of respecting patient privacy and confidential information,” said Kho in statement today.

She said the State Disaster Management Committee (SDMC) had only disclosed the general locality of Covid-19 patients during the first wave of outbreak and urged anyone who was close contact to self-volunteer to be tested.

“As one of the person listed my number and volunteered as SUPP Covid-19 hotline operator, I received so many distress calls from Sarawakians urging government to disclose the address and location visited by the Covid-19 patients.”

Kho said she personally felt the request for information of the locations visited by Covid-19 patients was reasonabe as the public would be in the know if they had close contact with an individual identified as positive for Covid-19.

“As we are now aware, fighting Covid-19 outbreak requires not only the front-liners but the whole community’s involvement. Information is key to avoid high risk areas and contain further spread of Covid-19,” she said.

She also said there were a lot of calls from certain groups for the state government to report in greater detail the occupation and location history of the Covid-19 patients.

Kho said the ultimate goal of SDMC was to save lives and the economy by containing the Covid-19 outbreak and not to hurt businesses.

With more information available in the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic, she hoped certain quarters would give full corporation to the relevant authorities to perform their duties instead of criticising their efforts.

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