KUCHING: A more drastic measure such as district or zone targeted lockdowns may have to be considered in the case that the presently imposed measure of reduced operation hours for all sectors does not work.
Federation of Kuching, Samarahan and Serian Divisions Chinese Associations president Datuk Richard Wee said this when commenting on the tightened conditional movement control order (CMCO) standard operating procedures (SOPs) announced by the Sarawak Disaster Management Committee (SDMC) on Monday.
One of the updated restrictions under the latest SOPs is the reduction of operation hours for all sectors, allowing them only from 6am to 8pm.
“Let’s see how this reduction of operation hours works first. If this works, then they do not have to consider a lockdown. But if it does not work, then they will have to consider a more drastic measure,” he told New Sarawak Tribune today.
Elaborating on his view on a lockdown measure, he felt that, if needed, it would be more suitable to implement a targeted lockdown on a district or zone basis rather than a total lockdown on the whole state or country.
“A total lockdown on the whole country would be very drastic. But if the Covid-19 situation in a certain area is really bad, then that whole area should be placed under lockdown.
“For instance, if Lundu’s Covid-19 situation is really bad, then the whole district or zone should be placed under a lockdown,” he said.
While Wee noted that the aspect of livelihood was important, he believed that it was more crucial to get the Covid-19 pandemic here under proper control.
Sharing advice for businesses during this difficult time, he said they should try to be more creative in discovering better ways to generate income.
“At the same time, I hope that in this pandemic period, the government can come up with assistance packages to help out all these businesses, hawkers, and so on which are badly affected,” he urged.
