KUCHING, Feb 4 — The Sarawak Disaster Management Committee (SDMC) needs to be stricter with inter-district travel if the state’s Covid-19 cases is to decrease effectively, DAP lawmaker Dr Kelvin Yii said today.

The Bandar Kuching MP suggested that travellers from Covid-19 red zones applying to go to green and yellow zones be screened for the virus first and only issued the requisite police permits if they test negative.

"While I understand certain travels are needed especially for essential services, but I believe it is important to have some safety measure to make sure those travelling out of red zones do not bring the virus out and spread to other zones in Sarawak,” he said in a statement.

He was responding to news reports that Sarawak police issued 9,177 travelling permits from January 25 to 29 in Sibu, one of the few Covid-19 red zones in the state and which is subject to the movement control order (MCO).

Sarawak, Malaysia’s largest state, has on the whole been left out of the MCO covering the rest of the country, barring certain districts.

Dr Yii said the high numbers of Covid-19 cases that were not part of clusters, especially in the red zones, showed the virus to be entrenched within the local community.

He added that extra precaution must be taken so asymptomatic carriers would not inadvertently become spreaders.

"While I understand this may cause some level of inconvenience, but this is important to protect other parts of Sarawak especially the green and yellow zones from turning to the red zones,” he said.

At the same time, Dr Yii urged SDMC to make the process of applying for the police permission easier for the public. He suggested the application be made available online as well, just like in the rest of the states outside Sarawak.

"It is not just important to protect the health of those in the different zones, but also the economic activities in those areas.

"If we see a surge of cases in that particular area, the economic activities in the area will also be significantly affected,” he said, stressing that SDMC should take the pro-active step and take precautions so that possible "loop-holes” can be covered for the good of the public in Sarawak.