SARAWAK authorities are working with the Indonesian province of West Kalimantan to control the movement of dogs across their borders as the state struggles to contain the rapid spread of rabies.

The joint effort with Indonesia follows yesterday’s announcement that two new areas in Sarawak – the Sg Maong wet market in the heart of Kuching city and Kampung Serikin in Bau – have been declared as rabies-infected areas, bringing the total affected areas in Sarawak to 22.

At the Sarawak-Kalimantan Rabies Outbreak Control and Prevention Special Committee’s first meeting at the border town of Tebedu yesterday, the committee agreed to set up an “immune belt” along the border with Indonesia.

Under the plan, all dogs within the belt will be vaccinated and their movements controlled.

The committee was set up following a meeting between Deputy Chief Minister Douglas Uggah and the Indonesian consul-general in Kuching last Wednesday.

The rabies outbreak in Sarawak has claimed five lives. At least 13 people have died from the disease in West Kalimantan.

Infected dogs from West Kaliman have been blamed for the outbreak in Sarawak.

The kampung of the first two rabies deaths in July 4 – siblings Monica Mazlan, 6, and 4-year-old Jackson – is located just 5km from the border in Serian.

Since then, the town of Lachau, 149km from Kuching and a mere “minutes’ walking distance to the border” was declared rabies-infected on July 18 while Kg Entubuh, another border village in Tebedu was declared rabies-infected on July 23.

Yesterday’s meeting also agreed to ban the import and export of animals between the two areas, conduct joint rabies awareness programmes in villages along the border and establish an official line of communication between the veterinary services departments of Sarawak and West Kalimantan.

Dog-bite clinics have been set up in Sarawak’s Serian hospital, Sentosa health clinic and the Sri Aman health clinic to treat dog bite cases.

The health department has detected 879 people who have been bitten by dogs since April 1, with 402 of them detected in the first 24 days of this month.

It said to date, of the 71 samples that had been sent, 39 samples – 33 dogs and six cats – have tested positive for the rabies disease. – July 26, 2017.