Decision to revert to 14-day quarantine period a necessity due to trend in Covid-19 cases, Uggah explains

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Uggah (right) is briefed by Civil Defence officer Sgnt Abu Bakar Kipriwi on the situation at the Infra Sarawak campus, which is now used as one of the quarantine centres.

KOTA SAMARAHAN (Jan 23): Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas has appealed for public understanding on Sarawak’s decision to revert to a full 14-day quarantine period at designated centres for travellers entering the state.

He said this decision was made based on advice by the state Health Department after it was discovered that some positive Covid-19 cases were only found on the 11th to 13th day after entering Sarawak.

“Previously, the quarantine was for 10 days whereby the person would be tested on the second and eighth day. But, we found some cases only tested positive after 11 days, 12 days and 13 days.

“So, acting on advice from Health Department, we reverted to having a full 14-day quarantine. I understand that some people may not understand it, but I appeal to everyone to understand although of course it is troublesome, since some get it for free and some have to pay (for the quarantine and test),” he said today after visiting the Institute for Rural Advancement (Infra) Sarawak campus here.

Uggah, who is Sarawak Disaster Management Committee (SDMC) chairman, had previously announced on Monday that all those who enter Sarawak will be quarantined for 14 days at hotels and designated quarantine centres with no exceptions given.

The rT-PCR screening test will be taken on the second and 10th day, and they will be released from quarantine once their second test is negative for Covid-19.

Uggah said a group of Sarawakians returning from overseas had even told him that they would be willing to go for the full 14 days quarantine once arriving in the state.

He explained that this group contacted him that they were now in Kuala Lumpur for quarantine and had been undergoing the Antingen RTK test.

“They said they want to be quarantined once reaching Sarawak. Of course if they are Sarawakians, we will pay for their test and quarantine.

“This is the way we control the spread of Covid-19. I don’t have the figures with me, but I can say a lot of cases are imported,” he said.

Uggah also assured Sarawakians that quarantine centres are now sufficient.

“We were in a dilemma before, whether we maintained the existing number of flights or reduce them. In the end we decided to reduce them based on number of hotels we have.

“We have been given a very bitter lesson whereby we gave home quarantine, which caused the cases to spread quickly to Sibu and Miri.

“Therefore, the decision was to limit the flights so that the hotels have enough capacity (to cope with number of arrivals),” he said.