KUCHING: Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas has warned that authorities will not hesitate to take action against those who spread fake news.
“I appeal to the community to stop such irresponsible actions of spreading fake news. Yesterday (Monday), we saw one being viralled which said that a few places in Kuching were unsafe.
“I asked the State Health Department (JKNS) if they had issued this notice; they said no,” he said during an interview with Radio Televisyen Malaysia’s (RTM) radio station SarawakFM on Tuesday (July 14).
He said that spreading fake news would cause unnecessary panic among the community.
Meanwhile, he urged the public to comply with the standard operating procedure (SOP) set for various activities, in addition to applying important practices such as social distancing, proper usage of face masks, frequent hand-washing, and avoiding crowded places.
“The Gabungan Parti Sarawak (GPS) government under the leadership of our Chief Minister will strive to arrange programmes and plans, as well as prepare facilities and infrastructures needed to cut the chain of transmission of Covid-19,” he said.
He urged everyone to cooperate and work together as they did in the first Covid-19 phase.
In this second phase, he said that the same attitude should be applied – being responsible and willing to make some sacrifices of one’s regular routine to ensure that the Covid-19 curve can be flattened in the coming days.
Uggah noted that there had been a number of positive Covid-19 cases reported in the past week after numerous days of zero cases, adding that this showed that there was a possibility of a second wave occurring in Sarawak.
He expressed concern over the new engineering cluster in Kuching as this indicated that the Covid-19 virus was within the community.
“There have been a few new cases in Kuching, and therefore we must all collectively be careful and play our role, complying with all SOP set for social and economic activities,” he said.
