THE Penang government is consistently giving its optimum effort to combat the Covid-19 pandemic, says Komtar assemblyman Teh Lai Heng.
Despite its best efforts, the state is seeing a surge in Covid-19 cases in recent days.
This has prompted Teh (PH-Komtar) to propose a two-week total lockdown for the state to stem the tide at the State Legislative Assembly sitting today.
Teh said the state government, led by Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow, has given its full commitment to the federal agencies and departments to overcome the situation as a team.
“Ever since the emergence of the pandemic, we have neither neglected our responsibilities nor blamed anyone. In fact, we are helping out as much as we can.
“During the early stage, the state government has contributed personal protective equipment (PPE) such as the face masks, hand gloves, face shields, hand sanitisers and many others to our frontliners.
“We have also contributed much to enhance the healthcare facilities at hospitals as well as collaborated with non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and corporate companies to sponsor medical devices,’’ Teh said.
He added that the state government has helped to set up the Covid-19 quarantine centres, Covid-19 vaccination centres and even equipped the police roadblock control post with portable toilets and tents.
“Apart from that, the state government has joined hands with the NGOs, top industry players and professionals to form PgCare Alliance to assist those who have been affected economically due to the pandemic.
“We have also initiated the Covid-19 community screening programme across all the 40 constituencies in the state.
“On top of that, the state assemblymen have played their part by sending food aid to those families who were under quarantine.
“They had also provided transport services to ferry vaccine recipients to the PPVs and even distributed Covid-19 self-test kits for those who came into close contact with Covid-19 patients,’’ said Teh, who is also the political secretary to the chief minister.
Despite the various efforts undertaken by the state government, Teh said there are critics claiming that the state government is not performing its duties.
“People have the perception that the chief minister holds the same authority as the health minister or the prime minister.
“But as a chief minister, his power is limited unlike the prime minister or the Federal ministers.
“For instance, many were asking why the factories are still operating and are not ordered to close but this is actually under the jurisdiction of Ministry of International Trade and Industry (Miti).
“People have also suggested the closure of state borders, but the National Security Council and police have the authority to do so,” he said.
According to Teh, the Ministry of Health (MOH) has the authority to reveal the localities of the positive cases recorded through the state Health Department.
“Previously, people were also asking why the state Health Department is not disclosing the localities of Covid-19 cases, but the fact is, it is under the jurisdiction of the MOH.
“After the chief minister had attended several meetings with the relevant authorities, the state Health Department started to give information on the concerned localities,’’ said Teh.
Apart from that, Teh said many also questioned the slow vaccination process in Penang.
“But we are actually ranked sixth and seventh in terms of the vaccination rate for the first and second dose respectively.
“In July, Penang expected to receive a total of 591,532 doses of Covid-19 vaccine but following an appeal made by the chief minister, we received 703,448 doses which is an additional supply of 111,916 doses.
“For the month of August, we were supposed to receive a total of 707,220 doses but following the chief minister’s initiative, we received an additional 210,000 doses, bringing the total to 917,220 doses.
“These were the initiatives put forth by the state government to speed up the National Immunisation Programme (NIP) in Penang.
“Moreover, the vaccine supply is going to play a vital factor in ensuring that Penang is able to receive its target of inoculating 100 percent of the adult population by early September,’’ added Teh.
Teh said his suggestion for a two-week total lockdown is to bring down the number of Covid-19 cases in the state.
“The Targeted Enhanced Movement Control Order (TEMCO), which was imposed in Selangor from July 3 to July 31 as well as the acceleration in the vaccination rate, have helped to reduce the number of Covid-19 cases in Selangor.
“It will not be easy to implement the total lockdown, but it may help Penang to bring down the number of Covid-19 cases in a short period of time,’’ said Teh.
Story by Tanushalini Moroter
Pix by Darwina Mohd Daud