KOTA KINABALU: Scared. Worried. Angry. Desperate. Frustrated. Those are just some of the words that best describe how Labuan residents feel nowadays.
The island once had low numbers of Covid-19 infections but that changed towards the end of May.
From six cases on May 28, the infections jumped to 253 the following day and remained at three-digit figures, except for June 3 (62 cases).
Oil and gas worker Hector Stephen, 41, said what makes it even more worrying is the fact that the highly infectious Delta variant, previously known as the Indian variant, is the one causing the massive surge on the tiny but congested island.
“We feel very scared to go out and feel insecure, even if we get vaccinated (in future),” he told FMT.
“Because the variant is said to be airborne and more transmissible, the virus can easily infect every one of us, even if we were wearing masks.
“The R-naught (R0) in Labuan is the highest in Malaysia, so that is also the main reason we are scared.”
On June 6, Labuan health director Dr Ismuni Bohari had said that the Delta variant is believed to have spread widely in the local community, leading to the spike in positive cases over the past few days.
He said the symptoms are severe if anyone gets infected with the strain.
The situation now is especially concerning for Stephen, whose wife has just given birth to their fourth child.
“We cannot do anything to protect our family from getting infected from our daily work. We can only do self-sanitisation every time we come back from work and maintain strict SOPs when we are outside.
“Most people in Labuan are working with oil and gas companies, so like it or not, we have to work because we are considered an essential service.
“We hope the vaccination programme can be speeded up in Labuan and extended to everyone, especially those with families, so we can achieve herd immunity as soon as possible,” he said.
‘Normal’ now to see ambulances
Stephen said it is almost a “normal thing now” for ambulances to pick up people suspected of being infected.
“One of my neighbours and his family were picked up recently. And what’s worse and saddening is, because Labuan is so small, you will most likely know the people who died … how is that not scary?” he said.
Meanwhile, Azhar Othman has a first-hand experience of the devastation caused by the surge in Labuan.
“I lost a first cousin yesterday (June 11) from Covid-19. I also lost several people I know in the past one year. We don’t need any more lives to be lost,” he told FMT.
Azhar, who is the Labuan BIMP-EAGA (Brunei-Indonesia-Malaysia-Philippines East Asean Growth Area) Business Council chairman, said people in Labuan are angry because the spike started “unnecessarily”.
This was when a close contact of an infected foreigner entered the island via Kuala Lumpur on April 23 bringing the variant. “And then came the ‘Hari Raya’ and the ‘Funeral’ clusters, among others. All these contributed to the situation we are in today,” he said.
“Labuan is the territory worst infected by Covid-19 in the country right now with an infection rate of one case for every 17 persons as of June 11. It is worse than Kuala Lumpur, Selangor and Sarawak.
“On June 11, we had 176 new cases in Labuan and eight more people died. That is equivalent to about 1,700 daily cases if the same percentage is applied in Kota Kinabalu, and 3,100 daily cases in Kuala Lumpur, and 56,000 cases in the whole country.
“The situation in Labuan is almost nine times worse than the whole country. Can you take a moment to imagine having 56,000 daily cases – not (for example) 6,000 or 10,000? That is how serious the situation is in Labuan.”
As of June 12, Labuan has a cumulative 5,884 cases, with 2,437 still active. A total of 62 deaths have been reported so far.
More than 80,000 extra doses needed
Azhar is perplexed as to why no speedy help is coming to the island with a population of almost 100,000.
“Everybody agrees that having herd immunity is the answer to halting this trend. Leaders are urging people to register but of the 60% who have registered in Labuan, not even half of them have been vaccinated.
“I have calculated that Labuan needs more than 80,000 extra doses to achieve herd immunity but I don’t see this coming in the next one month,” he said, pleading with the health, federal territories and science ministries to expedite the help.
He said federal territories minister Annuar Musa had previously mentioned achieving herd immunity in Kuala Lumpur by August but was silent about Labuan when the situation became worse there.
Azhar suggested that vaccination centres be opened outside town areas, saying this would prevent big crowds at the island’s close-knit downtown area.
He also hoped the government would hand out enough food baskets to those affected. He said people were already complaining about shortages and price hikes because some big supermarkets were closed for sanitisation.
“Those tasked to manage the situation should be more transparent. Tell us their concerns so that we know what’s going on and how we can help. Disseminate the data, analyse them and tell us what they mean. I have a thousand questions myself. It is not enough to simply say ‘stay at home’ all the time or announce one SOP after another,” he said.
Timothy Musa Demong, who is originally from Kuching, said a total lockdown is needed in Labuan to effectively curb infections but this would be difficult if the related enforcing agencies did not see eye to eye.
“The coordination between the agencies is very poor – Team A is blaming Team B and vice versa,” he said, without specifying who they were.
“And please stop with the politicking, either those in the ruling government or the opposition. Just send the vaccines quickly and extend other forms of help because those are the only things the people need now.” - FMT
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