SARAWAK has made it mandatory for all village chiefs and community leaders to report all social gatherings planned within their neighbourhood.

The order, which takes immediate effect, is the latest move by the state to stem a rise in Covid-19 transmissions linked to social gatherings, state disaster management committee chairman Douglas Uggah said today.

Uggah said the decision was taken after finding a high number of new cases linked to social functions in villages and longhouses.

Weddings and funerals, in particular, have been found to be the source of new outbreaks and were factors behind the high infection rate recorded in the state in the last few months.

“Many of the clusters are from social gatherings that fail to adhere to the SOP,” he said.

The last cluster reported, the Kg Binyu cluster in Kuching district, stemmed from a wedding attended by three infected guests.

The trio infected 65 people who had come into contact with them.

Uggah said longhouse or village chiefs and community leaders had, in the past, been advised to report social events that are about to take place to their district office.

“Before, they were merely advised to do so. Now, it is mandatory.”

By reporting such vents, the district office can alert and mobilise enforcement agencies like the police and Rela to be at the events and enforce SOP against the spread of Covid-19, Ugh said.

“The district office is ready to assist the community leaders in ensuring the SOPs are complied with,” said the state’s deputy chief minister.

“Community leaders play an important role in maintaining the safety of local communities from Covid-19.

“Being part of the government machinery, they must play their part in keeping everybody safe.”

On travel restrictions, Uggah had also directed the Bintulu division disaster management committee, to amend the travel ban into the industrial town after motorists and delivery trucks travelling on the Pan Borneo highway were stopped from continuing their journey on the section of the road that traverses through Bintulu district.

The Bintulu disaster committee had last Wednesday made it mandatory for anyone wishing to enter Bintulu between April 5 and 18, to produce a Covid-19 test certificate as proof that they are negative.

The test has to be taken three days before travel.

Uggah said he had directed the Bintulu disaster committee to amend the SOP so travel that bypasses Bintulu town “can be done seamlessly”. – April 6, 2021.