Be sure you are Covid negative before coming back, longhouse folk reminded

SIBU: Assistant Minister of Local Government and Housing Dr Annuar Rapa’ee has called upon those who have decided to go back to their longhouses to make sure that they have tested negative for Covid-19.

The Nangka assemblyman, who is also the coordinator for Sibu Division Disaster Management Committee (SDDMC), acknowledges that at this juncture, the lockdown order over many longhouses in

Sibu has been lifted – from over 100 longhouses previously to only 33 now.

“You can go back (to the longhouses), but you must make sure that you are not (Covid-19) positive; the same goes to the longhouse folk who want to go out –always follow the standard operating procedures (SOP), because if you’re not careful, you could bring the virus to your longhouses.

“If there’s no in-and-out movement at the longhouses, there should be no positive cases,” he said in his daily Facebook Live session yesterday.

According to Dr Annuar, Rumah Berendam at Ulu Durin Kiba had became the latest longhouse in Sibu to have a Covid-19 outbreak – with 28 confirmed positive cases out of the total 79 cases recorded in Sibu Division yesterday.

He also said the 28 cases were from the 89 samples that had been collected from the longhouse; thus, he believed that ‘one of the folk’ had brought along the virus to the longhouse.

He said he would discuss with Sibu Health officer Dr Teh Jo Hun on whether to enforce lockdown on Rumah Berendam, or to bring out the remaining 61 longhouse villagers to the quarantine centre.

“I will discuss this with

Dr Teh (over) which one is easier, but I think sending (the villagers) to the quarantine centre is much better in reducing the possibility of socialising; thus the infection rate could be reduced as well,” he said, adding that preventing the longhouse folk from having close physical interaction with one another was important because the remaining 61 villagers who had tested negative, could turn up to be positive during the second swabtesting.

Meanwhile, he said for now, 89.8 per cent of Covid19 patients here had been discharged.

Adding on, he also said the quarantine centres and Sibu Hospital could still accommodate more patients.

Out of 79 cases reported yesterday, 39 cases were detected in Sibu Municipal Council (SMC) areas, three in Sibu Jaya areas, and 37 in Sibu Rural District Council (SRDC) areas.