CORONAVIRUS WATCH
KUCHING: A request to obtain facilities and train doctors to test for coronavirus in Sarawak will be discussed during a high-level committee meeting today chaired by Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas.
Deputy State Secretary Datuk Ik Pahon Joyik said that currently, samples from suspected cases in the state had to be sent to Kuala Lumpur (KL) for testing as facilities were unavailable in Sarawak.
“That time when rabies broke out, we also sent samples to Ipoh for testing. However, we got our own lab later. Even though we still sent samples to Ipoh and KL for a second opinion, we could do lab tests in Sarawak,” he told reporters after chairing a technical meeting with the relevant authorities at Wisma Bapa Malaysia here yesterday.
He said this was one of the matters which had been brought up by medical authorities.
“Hopefully, tomorrow (today) the state would be able to provide some guidelines as to whether we can have our own labs to conduct testing on this coronavirus as well,” said Ik Pahon.
According to him, during the meeting today, Uggah would explain the state government’s policies with regard to handling the coronavirus outbreak.
Meanwhile, he said that the technical meeting yesterday was held to provide information to all frontliners including tourism industry players and Residents.
He added that the tourism sector would experience the most negative effects from this outbreak.
“We have asked the medical departments to convey and share information with tourism industry players on the severity of this virus,” he said, adding that information had also been shared with immigration authorities.
He said there were also operational matters and they had requested Radio Televisyen Malaysia (RTM), Information Department (Japen), Immigration Department, airports, and tour agents to take action.
A statement by the Ministry of Health (MOH) yesterday said that as at 12pm from January 10 to 28, the cumulative number of Patient-Under-Investigation (PUI) coronavirus cases was 65 –- 34 Malaysians, 30 China nationals, and one Jordanian.
Of the 65 PUI cases, one tested positive while 61 were negative and three were still awaiting lab results.
