Voon urges politicians returning from Sabah to undergo Covid-19 screening

KUCHING: Political activist Voon Shiak Ni has called on politicians who have recently returned from Sabah to voluntarily undergo Covid-19 screening before taking part in any local community activities.

She said this was in view of the surge in Covid-19 positive cases in the country for the past weeks due to the virus outbreak within the community, aggravated by the recent Sabah election campaign trails.

“Some politicians may have returned to Sarawak before any travel restrictions were imposed by the State Disaster Management Committee (SDMC) for travellers coming in from Sabah and Labuan, but we all know the incubation period for Covid-19 may take 14 to 21 days to show symptoms.”

Voon pointed out asymptomatic patients of Covid-19 posed serious danger to the public and it was a social duty to observe self-quarantine or undergo Covid-19 screening if one had recently returned from high-risk areas such as Sabah.

She said there were politicians who had campaigned in Sabah who tested positive for the virus and the trend of about 100 new cases being reported daily for the past few days was alarming.

“The e-health declaration and entry forms are basic standard operating procedures for all travellers to Sarawak from Sabah and Labuan but for those, especially politicians, who had joined the election campaigns in Sabah it is for the safety of your own family and your voters to go for Covid19 screening or to do selfquarantine.”

Voon also remarked that the ‘Kita Jaga Kita (We take care of ourselves)’ slogan was a strong message for the community to fight the pandemic, which should be upheld strictly by the public at large, especially politicians.