Public list of places affected by Covid-19 meant to encourage screening – DCM
KOTA SAMARAHAN: The decision to publicly reveal the locations visited by Covid19 positive cases is meant to encourage those associated with these places to step forward and undergo screening.
In pointing this out, Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas said the decision was made by the State Disaster Management Committee (SDMC) after holding a detailed discussion involving all parties.
“Today (yesterday), I saw a comment from a politician regarding this matter; I feel that he (politician) does not understand our (SDMC's) purpose of releasing the data.
“It is important for the public to be aware of the places visited by Covid-19 positive cases at certain times and dates – things like these would encourage them (public) to undergo screening.
“We have no other purposes, no intention of causing problems to any premises or their owners; I do feel that the owners themselves would also want to know the date and time when a positive Covid-19 case has visited their premises,” he told reporters when met during a walkabout at Bandar Riyal Market here yesterday.
Uggah, who is also SDMC chairman, said by revealing the place, date and time of visits by any positive Covid-19 case, it would encourage more people to come forward and undergo screening.
“If the people are worried because they have visited a place that has been exposed to a positive case, they would come forward and undergo testing.
“The most important thing is cooperation.
“In Sibu, for example, many people have come out to undergo swab tests, resulting in 10,000 samples being taken – this is the very spirit that we encourage,” he said.
On the compliance with the standard operating procedure (SOP) among traders and customers at Bandar Riyal Market, Uggah commended all of them for fully adhering to the directives such as maintaining proper physical distance and wearing face masks.
“I am satisfied. Generally, everyone shows very high compliance – perhaps there is one or two who may have forgotten about the SOP.
“I also commend the customers for fully adhering to the directives.
“This shows that the people of Sarawak are aware of their roles in the fight against Covid19.”
On Friday, Batu Lintang assemblyman See Chee How made a call upon the SDMC to clarify and review the requirements for publicly disclosing the list of places visited by confirmed Covid-19 cases.
“The lists released by SDMC are commonly broadcast on printed and online media as well as on social media platforms, to the detriment of the business operators of those premises, but are of little or unknown use to SDMC,” said See, who is also a presidential council member of Parti Sarawak Bersatu (PSB), in a press statement.