Sabah to focus on vaccinations, total lockdowns no longer viable
The Sabah state government will not consider implementing a full lockdown but will focus on ramping up the vaccination process instead to deal with the rising number of Covid-19 cases in the state.
Sabah Covid-19 spokesperson Masidi Manjun (above) said full lockdowns are no longer viable as it has almost crippled the state’s economy...
The Sabah state government will not consider implementing a full lockdown but will focus on ramping up the vaccination process instead to deal with the rising number of Covid-19 cases in the state.
Sabah Covid-19 spokesperson Masidi Manjun (above) said full lockdowns are no longer viable as it has almost crippled the state’s economy.
“A lot of companies have had to close down or incurred big losses. Many have lost their sources of income and are relying on government assistance.
“They want to work in order to feed their families and the government’s capacity to continue handing out assistance and subsidies is limited.
“We have to balance lives and livelihood. And this cannot simply be done with a lockdown or an enhanced movement control order,” Masidi said, as reported by the Daily Express yesterday.
Instead, he said, the government’s current strategy in dealing with Covid-19 is to ramp up vaccinations and to ensure standard operating procedure (SOP) compliance among the public.
“The State Health Department’s capacity to administer vaccines has reached up to 50,000 doses a day and it will be intensified up to 60,000 doses a day depending on the vaccine stock available.
“Total compliance with SOPs prevents us from getting infected, while vaccination gives us immunity from transmissions up to 90 percent,” he said.
Achieving herd immunity and ensuring widespread SOP compliance would be more effective in dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic than a lockdown, Masidi said.
He also added that the state government’s priority now is to get sufficient vaccine supply in a timely manner.
Two days ago, Sabah had breached the 1,000-mark with its daily new cases of 1,066. The last time it crossed that mark was back in November last year, shortly after the Sabah state elections.
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