Sarawak reports no new Covid-19 cases for 8th consecutive day

KUCHING: Sarawak reported no new Covid-19 cases on Thursday (May 21) for the eighth consecutive day, while 16 more cases have recoN Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah said the 16 recovered patients were discharged from the Sarawak General Hospital here. He said this brought the number of recoveries to 455 cases, or 83.6% of the total 544 confirmed cases in the state to date. He also announced that Lundu distnct was now a green zone after recording no new cases in the last 14 days. `Four districts are still classified as yellow zones, while 36 districts are green zones," he said at the Sarawak disaster management committee's daily Covid-19 bnefing here on Thursday. The yellow distracts, where less than 40 new cases were detected in the last 14 days, are Kuching, Tebedu, Sibu and Senan. Uggah also said bistros were now allowed to operate dunng the conditional movement control order (MCO). However, he said they were not allowed to pi1ovide entertainment such as live bands and karaoke. I "If you open your bistro, and you have a live band or karaoke,sthat would be in breach of the regulations. "But if you only sell food and drinks, that is not an issue," he said. Bistros were earlier listed along with music cafes and nightclubs as premises that were not allowed to operate during the conditional MCO. In addition, Uggah said Sarawak would learn from the experience of Hokkaido, Japan and Singapore in preparing for a potential second wave r He said the monitoring and prevention task force set up by the committee last month had recommended several measures based on the second wave of cases•in Hokkaido and Singapore. "We are coming up with a strategy to face the possibility of a second wave. more importantly, Sarawakians themselves have a big role in ensuring that a second wave doesn't occur here," he said.