Make Covid-19 test compulsory for people from red zones – MP
KUCHING: Bandar Kuching MP Dr Kelvin Yii has proposed that Sarawak Disaster Management Committee (SDMC) impose more restrictions on people in “Red Zones” travelling outside their area.
Among the measures , he suggested that SDMC make it compulsory for anyone travelling from red zones undergo a Covid-19 test .
“While I understand this may cause some level of inconvenience, but this is important to protect other parts of Sarawak especially the green zones.
“SDMC can implement a policy where, in order to get permission to travel out especially those of essential services, they can apply first for a police permit and those successful will then be allowed to get free Covid-19 testing in any of the clinics,” he said in a statement yesterday.
However, Dr Yii added uploading all the necessary documents for the application of police permit should be made available online prior to going for their Covid-19 test.
“Such policy is actually already been implemented for those travelling from ‘Red Zones’ outside of Sarawak and thus I believe it should be extended to intra-state travel as well. It is not just important to protect the health of those in the different zones, but also the economic activities in those areas,” he said.
Meanwhile Dr Yii also commented that he read with concern a news report that the police had approved 9,177 permits from Jan 25-29 for Sibu recently.
While huge majority of these permits are for businesses to run in Sibu during their MCO, among them could be permits for travel outside of Sibu during the MCO period as well.
“I understand certain travels are needed especially for essential services, but I also believe it is important to have some safety measure to make sure those travelling out of Red Zones do not bring the virus out and spread to other zones in Sarawak,” he said.