KUCHING: Residents in Samarahan have expressed fear and concern over Covid-19, with the area in a somewhat precarious position with several clusters surrounding it.
Kota Samarahan Municipal Council (MPKS) chairman Datuk Peter Minos explained that Kota Samarahan was in a difficult position – not too far away in the east are the Covid-19 clusters of Mambong and Sentosa while close by in the west is the Stutong Market Cluster.
“Left and right of Kota Samarahan are the ‘danger zones’, as some Samarahan residents put it. So, I can understand their fears and worries.
“Squeezed in between the cluster areas, Kota Samarahan residents feel they are living under siege and vulnerable,” he said in a statement on Wednesday.
He said that it was now the talk of the town in Samarahan that Covid-19 may spread and attack the people, especially now that Kuching had experienced a recent spike in infections.
When some residents expressed their apprehension to him, he said his only answer was, “Must wear face masks when out of the house, observe social distancing, and when possible wash hands often and use sanitisers. I also advised them to avoid any crowd and of course, go to Kuching only when absolutely necessary.”
Meanwhile, according to Minos, MPKS enforcement officers and the police had chased out several vegetable traders from outside Samarahan a few days ago. He said that the traders had tried to dispose of their vegetables and fruits in two of Samarahan’s housing estates.
He said that they had no permit from MPKS and he suspected the traders were trying to avoid Covid-19 issues in their own areas.
“They posed a possible Covid-19 infection risk to us in Samarahan; that must not happen. That was why I instructed my officers to take immediate actions, which they did expeditiously,” he said, adding that they could not afford to take any risks.
He said that from last Monday, the council had also been conducting more vigorous checks on shops, cafes, malls, food stores, and other public places in Kota Samarahan.
This included checking for compliance to the recovery movement control order (RMCO) regulations by the business owners, particularly temperature-taking of customers and recording their details.
