Wee echoes Dr Sim’s advice to avoid social gatherings during Chap Goh Mei

0

Richard Wee

KUCHING (Feb 25): The Chinese community in Sarawak is urged to avoid social gatherings during Chap Goh Mei tomorrow (Feb 26) to prevent any surge of Covid-19 cases as anticipated by Local Government and Housing Minister Dato Sri Dr Sim Kui Hian.

Sarawak Federation of Chinese Associations (SFCA) president Dato Richard Wee, who made this call today, said it is pertinent for all to comply with the standard operating procedures (SOP) set by the authorities concerned and the government to curb the spread of the virus.

“I would like to reiterate my previous appeal and message for the withholding of Chinese New Year (CNY) gatherings for the Chap Goh Mei celebrations to prevent the rise in the number of Covid-19 cases as anticipated by Dr Sim.

“We sincerely hope that we do not have the surge that is mentioned by Dr Sim and do not have any such clusters emerge,” he said when contacted by The Borneo Post.

Wee called upon everyone to strictly adhere to the SOP issued by the authorities to break the chain of Covid-19 infections.

He appealed to all to form the habit of practising and upholding better personal hygiene as well as for operators of all food and beverage outlets to have best hygiene practices so as to improve the confidence of their customers.

These included coffee shops and hawker stall operators who should always wear face masks and uphold all safe practices and habits for all, he said.

In a Facebook post Wednesday night, Dr Sim said: “The last day of CNY, Chap Goh Mei will be another hot bed event for Covid-19 transmissions to occur”.

He made this comment based on the observations of the Sarawak General Hospitals’ Covid-19 response team over a two-week period.

Dr Sim said contact tracing in the past two weeks had indicated that festive gatherings at food and beverage outlets and private residences had contributed to the large number of cases here and in Samarahan.

Prior to the Spring Festival celebration, Wee called on the Chinese community to strictly comply with the SOP and guidelines set by the State Disaster Management Committee (SDMC).

He said SFCA had postponed indefinitely all festive activities including its annual CNY reunion dinner, and urged all divisional federations of Chinese associations as well as all member associations to do the same.

“We will follow the guidelines issued by the SDMC and refrain from house visits, lion dance and big gatherings as normally practised traditionally,” he said on Jan 30.

SDMC then decided that activities such as open houses, house-to-house visits, reunion dinners in restaurants and hotels, festive bazaars and celebrations at temples and public places, traditional culture lion or dragon dance were not allowed.

For the traditional family reunion dinner on the CNY Eve, only family members, limited to only 20 persons, were allowed.

SDMC also limited the celebration to only the first day (Feb 12), and a maximum of 20 family members at any one time.