In post Covid-19 vaccination era, Sarawakians must learn to live with the virus, says Dr Sim

Dato Sri Dr Sim Kui Hian

KUCHING (Sept 2): Sarawak is on a paradigm shift, moving from the Covid-19 pandemic into an endemic stage, where the people are learning to live with the virus, said Dato Sri Dr Sim Kui Hian.

The State Disaster Management Committee advisor said despite this, the people still need to be on alert and continue taking public health measures to reduce virus transmission.

“Sarawak, like Singapore and the UK, is in a post Covid-19 vaccination era. We are learning to live with the virus, moving from pandemic stage to endemic stage,” he said in a Facebook post last night.

According to the Covid-19 Immunisation Task Force Sarawak, over 1.78 million or 87.2 per cent of the state’s adult population has been fully vaccinated as of yesterday.

Dr Sim said over half of the 1,031 new infections reported in Kuching yesterday were detected through close contact tracing in 289 locations.

He added that 305 of the total cases were linked to family clusters, while 109 others were connected to workplace clusters and 77 others to social clusters.

Localities in Kuching that reported two-digit cases were Taman Sukma (27), Kampung Tabuan Lot (20), Kampung Kudei Baru (17), Lorong Cahaya Damai (13), Kampung Tabuan Drahman (12), MJC Batu Kawah (11), Taman Desa Wira (10), Kampung Tabuan Dayak (10), and Taman Malihah (10).

Dr Sim said 53 of the total 73 cases detected in Samarahan were through close contact tracing, with 14 of the total cases symptomatic during testing.

In Serian, Dr Sim said 31 of the total 60 cases detected were symptomatic when their swab tests were taken.

“Kampung Mapu Tantu alone reported 36 cases,” he added.

Yesterday, Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin said Malaysia should be able to move from the Covid-19 pandemic into an endemic phase by the end of next month.

With 80 per cent of the population expected to be vaccinated by then, he said the country would need to learn to live with the virus.

According to him, it would take two more months to have 80 per cent of the country’s population vaccinated.

Khairy also said Labuan and Sarawak are already in an endemic phase.

Being in an endemic phase, he said more economic and social sectors would be reopened with new Covid-19 norms.

He added that the ministry would continue to make mask-wearing mandatory for the foreseeable future.

from Borneo Post Online https://bit.ly/3gULdoI
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