THE Penang Covid-19 free mass screening for targeted community groups will start on July 5 involving all the 40 state constituencies.
This was announced by state Local Government, Housing, Town and Country Planning Committee chairman Jagdeep Singh Deo on June 30.
He said the free mass screening, known as Penang Saring Covid-19 (PSC-19), would be done in two phases.
“The first phase, involving 11 state constituencies, will be held from July 5 to 18 after which Phase Two will begin.
“The PSC-19 will concentrate on the 19 Covid-19 hotspots,” he said.
Buletin Mutiara managed to interview several Penangites to get their views on this exercise. Below are their comments.
Syarmila Rastam (34, civil servant)
“For me, I am fully supportive of this initiative by the state government to do the Covid-19 mass screening in all constituencies in Penang.
“This can further minimise infections among the community.
“Through this, the Penang government will be able to identify, isolate and control the Covid-19 pandemic in the state.
“After all, prevention is always better than cure. Thumbs up to the Penang government.”
Brian Chen (30, engineer)
“The Covid-19 mass testing will definitely be a useful initiative as it will involve many of those from high-risk categories.
“This includes those living in hotspot areas, heads of families who live within target clusters, hawkers and traders, individuals at risk like senior citizens, pregnant women and children.
“Recently, we also have been hearing about community clusters being detected at several places across the state. This is a clear sign that a drastic move has to be taken.
“And I am glad that the Penang government is well aware of this and has already taken proactive measures.
“After all, we don’t want any silent carriers or asymptomatic cases that could unknowingly spread the disease among us like what happened in Selangor.
“Thus, I hope PSC-19 initiative will help to control the spread of the disease.”
Nur Azwina Shah Bodin (28, customer service executive)
“Firstly, I welcome decision made by the state government to implement the PSC-19 initiative.
“The decision is timely in view of the increase in the number of Covid-19 cases.
“However, the most important thing is for the public to continue adhering to the standard operating procedure (SOP).
“Although this has been said over and over again, I cannot stress enough the importance of doing so.”
Mohamad Fazrul Mohamad Nazlan (31, restaurant owner)
“I would like to applaud the state government for its initiative in conducting the Covid-19 free mass screening for the public.
“After all, the free mass testing is important especially for the people who cannot afford it or are unsure of where to go to get screened.
“So, by providing such a platform, we can encourage more people to come forward and do the testing.”
Devaroopan Ravichandran (44, software developer)
“I would like to suggest to the state government to increase the screenings maybe to 2,000 or even more per state constituency if possible.
“Currently, as I understand, it is only limited to 1,000 screenings per state constituency.
“By increasing the screenings, we can have more people tested and we can also detect more cases in the community.
“I also hope that the state government will do it regularly to curb the spread of infections and not just a one-time initiative.
“After all, this is such a good initiative from the Penang government. Well done!”
Story by Riadz Akmal
Pix by Ahmad Adil Muhamad