WE are still not out of the woods.
These were the exact words of a concerned Penangite who feels that the Federal Government’s move to allow dine-in for fully vaccinated individuals from states in Phase 2 and 3 under the National Recovery Plan (NRP), was too soon amid the rapid surge in daily new Covid-19 cases.
Dr Marcia Jane, Penangite, a senior lecturer, said she strongly believes that dine-in is not a required activity for now because the cases are fluctuating at high numbers every now and then.
“It is important to keep our eyes locked on the safety of ourselves, our loves ones and the community we live in.
“Dine-in at home, now that’s more like it isn’t it? There can be no safer place than home at this point in time,” Marcia told Buletin Mutiara during an exclusive phone interview today.
Echoing her opinion was another lecturer, Lim Tse Shaun, 29, who boldly said that the authorities should instead focus on introducing ways to overcome challenges at hospitals, whereby the premises are currently overwhelmed with Covid-19 patients.
“This clearly has led to shortages of intensive care unit (ICU) beds, normal beds and other ICU-related facilities.
“Until this problem is solved and future admission of new patients does not face such challenges, then the Federal Government can consider relaxing several SOPs.
“Why allow dine-in, which is nowhere near considered an essential activity?
“Food businesses can still survive because people are allowed takeaway, which is considered the safest activity to do now.
“Although vaccinated, there is a vulnerability of contracting the virus. When vaccinated, we should be extra cautious and just stay home and eat.
“We seriously cannot afford to jeopardise the mess that we are already carrying at the moment,” Lim said.
Another individual, Nehhssen Rao, a student from AIMST University, said dine-in is not necessary during this period as it will only lead to the increase of new cases in the state.
“Even though fully vaccinated, there are still chances of the person being infected with the virus in crowded places.
“For now, it’s better to wait for the cases to drop before allowing dine-in. Remember, prevention is better than cure,” Nehhssen said.
Muhd Shaleel shared the same perspective that allowing dine-in is unnecessary as it means that restaurants will most likely be adding a hidden cost as they need extra workers to be present at the entrance of the shops to check people’s Covid-19 digital certificates.
“There are possibilities here where unvaccinated individuals could enter the premises too.
“No matter how strict the shops can be, there will also be a loophole for individuals to sneak in. This is really unsafe and it is best to just stay home and eat now,” Muhd Shaleel said.
States under Phase 2 and 3 of the NRP are Penang, Perak, Kelantan, Terangganu, Pahang, Sabah, Perlis, Sarawak and Labuan.
Story by Kevin Vimal
Pix by Chan Kok Kuan and interviewees