Press Statement By Irene Chang:
Tiong Hua Zone has been consistently in the top spot in the list of Covid 19 infected locations in Sibu for the past few weeks. In order to help to bring down the positive cases in the area, my Bukit Assek Help centre has arranged for free disinfection to be carried out in homes which need such disinfection.
This shall be carried out for 2 months from Monday, 22nd February till 21st April 2021 and would be done by an experienced team who have been carrying out disinfection at the police stations and fire stations and private companies since the start of MCO last year. Each disinfecting session is supposed to cost RM350-RM450 (depending on size of premises) but we have made the arrangement with the owner of Excellent Enterprise, Mr Tomy Tie to disinfect at a minimal cost which shall be borne by us. As each disinfecting session would take around ½ to 1 hour (depending on size of premises), Excellent Enterprise team can only set aside the time to help sanitize 3 homes in one day which shall be arranged by us after we have received such requests. Priority would be given to those staying or working in Tiong Hua zone as it has the most numbers of cases at the moment. Even so, for those who stay in other zones, they would also be welcome to apply for the free disinfection if they contact any one of the DAP elected YBs in Sibu (Irene Chang 019 819 6383, David Wong 019 868 5885, Oscar Ling 019 858 1085 and Alice Lau 019 887 3677).
The current situation in Tiong Hua zone actually reflects the years of social and economic neglect which have resulted in the people staying in the areas being more vulnerable to being infected by the coronavirus. Poverty has forced many people, especially the rural-urban migrants to stay in a shared house with many other households. Houses are close to each other. Hence the higher risk of infection between neighbours if they interact with each other without practising their strict social distancing and putting on the mask. SMC and KKM should arrange regular disinfection and sanitation to be carried out in the public premises in Tiong Hua zone and also in the rest of the hotspot areas in Sibu.
Especially in cases where there have been positive cases, complaints have been received that disinfection of the premises was not even done or promptly done by the authorities concerned. At the time of writing, the authorities concerned did not even take steps to sanitize the elderly home at the latest Geronggang cluster. Instead, the operators of the home have to take action to do the sanitation by themselves. This lack of action by the authorities concerned would not help in the fight against Covid if those people who have been affected did not take the initiative to promptly disinfect their own place. I urge the authorities to take immediate measures to remedy this as it is medically acknowledged that the Covid virus can survive for up to 3 days on surfaces.
I also call on the people staying and working in Tiong Hua zone to do their part to fight against Covid 19 from taking over our lives and livelihood in the community. Stay home as much as possible and work together with the authorities and with each other to flatten the curve and to bring the numbers of positive cases down in the zone.
