A STATE task force will file a report in “three or four days time” on Sarawak’s preparedness to handle a sudden spike in Covid-19 cases so the state is not overwhelmed by the pandemic, Deputy Chief Minister Douglas Uggah Embas said today.

He said the task force will also recommend what actions Sarawak should take to cope with the potential flare-up even as the daily Covid-19 numbers showed a down trend, with eight new cases today compared to 15 yesterday.

With the eight new cases, there are now 371 infected persons in the state, the majority of them – 242 – being treated in the Kuching general hospital.

The 1,000-bed hospital had initially allocated 100 beds for Covid-19 patients.

In his daily Covid-19 briefing, Uggah said the task force will look at the capability and capacity of the state’s designated Covid-19 hospitals.

“Do we have enough beds in the event the pandemic prolongs, or a sudden spike in cases? We need to be ready,” Uggah, who heads the state’s Disaster Management Committee, said after its daily meeting today.

He said being ready is key as even the most developed and advanced countries in the world are being overwhelmed by the pandemic.

Uggah pointed to America as an example of a country that was caught unprepared.

Meanwhile, he said, another 150 have been classified as persons under investigation (PUI).

They join the list of 159 other people who are awaiting the result of their tests.

The state has set up four task forces to sift through the data and information that the state gathered on the Covid-19 pandemic and draw plans on how Sarawak can better handle another outbreak.

The task forces are to focus on “accelerating the flattening of the curve”, prevent and control the next wave of infections, draw up a preparedness plan for a big wave of infections, and to analyse all collected Covid-19 date.

Uggah had said whatever decision the Disaster Management Committee makes will be based “on science and data”, adding that the pandemic cannot be treated “blindly”.

Former state health director, Dr Jamilah Hashim, will chair the task force that had been given the job to accelerate the flattening of the curve while state housing and local government minister Sim Kui Hian heads the task force to draw up the preparedness plan for the next “big wave”.

Dr Andrew Kiyu, one of the state’s leading epidemiologists, will head the other two remaining task forces. – April 15, 2020.