Lee: Health personnel to be flown by helicopter to Long Jeeh in Ulu Baram for Covid screening after villagers test positive

Lee said he received a request for the helicopter service to bring personnel the MOH  from the Mulu assemblyman Datuk Gerawat Gala. – File photo

MIRI (Jan 26): The Miri Divisional Disaster Management Committee (MDDMC) has made an arrangement for a helicopter to bring in personnel from the Ministry of Health (MOH) to Long Jeeh in Ulu Baram to carry out swab test in the village after two of its villagers were tested positive for Covid-19 today.

State Transport Minister Datuk Lee Kim Shin, who is the minister in charge of MDDMC, said he received a request for the helicopter service from the Mulu assemblyman Datuk Gerawat Gala.

“Yes, we are making arrangement for a helicopter to bring in personnel from Ministry of Health (MOH) to Long Jeeh to carry out swab test after two of the villagers tested positive today.

“The earliest we can send the helicopter is this Thursday (Jan 28),” said Lee when contacted.

This would be the first time that MDDMC is using a helicopter to fly in MOH personnel to carry out swab test in a longhouse.

Lee said following the two positive cases, the village is now being placed under lockdown for 14 days starting today.

“All five blocks of longhouses in this village are placed under total lockdown,” he added.

Long Jeeh is located some seven hours drive using a four-wheel-drive from Miri city.

Meanwhile, Gerawat when contacted said when he first knew that the man who went to the village for a talk last week had been tested positive for Covid-19, he immediately contacted the hospital to request for a medical team to go to the village.

“The doctor said that they were overwhelmed, so they were making arrangements for those who are close contact with the man to be brought down for testing and later to be put on quarantine in Miri. This of course, was done a couple of days ago,” Gerawat added.

Gerawat said when he was notified that two of the villagers were found positive today, he immediately sent a message to the community leaders and representative from the village to ask them not to move around.

He also had contacted Lee to make an arrangement for a helicopter to go to the village to carry out swab test on the villagers, instead of making them go to Miri.

“I spoke to Baram Member of Parliament Anyi Ngau to emphasise the message to the people not to move (around) and stay put in their respective ‘bilik’ until the swab test is done,” Gerawat said.

When asked about three other villages where the first positive case had visited to conduct talks, Gerawat said the close contacts from these villages namely Long Selaan, Long Semiyang and Long San had underwent swab test and that their results came back negative.

“We are taking it very seriously, because this is what I have always emphasised about. We cannot allow this to spread into our constituency.

“First, we do not have any testing facility. Secondly, whatever basic medical thing we have in the clinics cannot cope with this kind of situation. Thirdly, when we do have positive cases like this – to evacuate them from rural area will be a mounting task.

Gerawat also appealed to his constituents to not go back to the longhouses and vice-versa during this period.

The post Lee: Health personnel to be flown by helicopter to Long Jeeh in Ulu Baram for Covid screening after villagers test positive appeared first on Borneo Post Online.

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