Sarawak now Covid-19 green zone state

Teachers returning to the state must fill in the e-health declaration forms and will be subjected to random Covid-19 tests upon arrival at airports.

KUCHING: Sarawak disaster management committee chairman Douglas Uggah Embas today announced that Sarawak has been declared a green zone state.

This followed the classification of Kuching as a green zone after no Covid-19 positive case was reported in the district for the last 14 days. Other districts are clear of the disease.

He said imported cases would not affect the green zone status in the state.

“The state government would like to thank all Sarawakians for all their sacrifices and cooperation in our battle against the virus.

“Although Sarawak has succeeded in flattening the infection curve, I would like to urge the people to continue to observe all the SOPs, including the practice of social distancing and hygiene to prevent the virus from spreading again,” he said at a press conference today.

On a related matter, Uggah also said all visitors travelling by road into the state through Brunei no longer need to seek the approval of the committee and police to enter, except for those who had stayed overnight in Brunei.

“Those who enter Sarawak from Brunei by air also still need to seek approval from the state disaster management committee and police,” he added.

In addition, he said the committee had also decided that teachers from the peninsula, Sabah and Labuan who had entered Sarawak to resume their duty and would like to return to their respective states for holidays could do so without the need to undergo quarantine again.

However, he said they must fill in the e-health declaration forms and would be subjected to random Covid-19 tests upon arrival at the airports.

Earlier, Uggah said the state today had reported an imported Covid-19 case in Sibu involving an oil and gas engineer working in Saudi Arabia.

“The patient had returned to Malaysia on July 3 on a Saudi Arabian airline and tested negative for Covid-19 at KLIA. The patient spent a night at Tune Hotel in KLIA before flying back to Sibu on July 4 and was placed under quarantine upon arrival.

“A swab test was done on July 6 and the result came back as positive on July 7,” he said, adding that the patient was asymptomatic.

The patient is currently being treated at Sibu Hospital, he added.

To date, Sarawak has reported a total of 573 positive cases with 17 deaths due to the virus. - FMT