SARAWAKIANS returning home from overseas will no longer be quarantined at centres in the peninsular, and can now complete the mandatory 14-day quarantine at centres in Sarawak, the state Disaster Management Committee said in a statement today.

The latest development is a rollback on the decision made by the National Security Council on March 31, which required all Malaysians returning from overseas to be quarantined at any one of the designated centres in the peninsular.

The committee also said no deaths was reported today, but the number of new positive cases continue to rise with 28 detected today compared to 23 yesterday. 

Sarawak now has 239 Covid-19 positive cases since the first case reported on March 13. 

Twenty-five of the new cases have been warded into the Sarawak General Hospital in Kuching with the remaining three into the Miri hospital. 

The Malay residential area of Semariang in the Petra Jaya side of city, is a Covid-19 hotspot accounting for 22 of the district’s 107 cases. 

Satok has 17 cases, Taman Sri Wangi (16), and areas designated Zone 1 (13), Zone 2 (11) and Zone 7 (also 11) have cases in double digits.

Kuching remains a hotspot with 40 positive cases. 

The committee issued only a statement today, instead of the usual media conference on Facebook, because its chairman Douglas Uggah had been ordered into a home quarantine after coming into close contact with a senior civil servant – who later tested positive for the Covid-19 virus – in a meeting he chaired on March 27. 

Uggah, who is also deputy chief minister, starts his quarantine today. Three other ministers who were at the meeting have also been ordered by the state Health Department to undergo the quarantine. 

Housing and Local Government Minister Dr Sim Kui Hian also starts his quarantine today but Deputy Chief Minister Awang Tengah Ali Hassan and Welfare, Community Wellbeing, Women, Family and Childhood Development Minister Fatimah Abdullah started theirs yesterday.

Dr Sim, who holds a watching brief on health matters for the state cabinet and Awang Tengah, who chairs the sub-committee on the delivery of food to the state’s rural areas and feeding the poor, homeless and unemployed during the movement control order period, are key members of the disaster management committee. 

In their first video conferencing to discuss the situation today, Dr Sim said on his Facebook he was fortunate to have his son Enson to guide him.

“Great fun as everyone needs a bit of getting used to it and very useful video conferencing during MCO while #StayHome,” he wrote. – April 3, 2020.