KUCHING, May 14 — Parti Bumi Kenyalang (PBK) today called on the Sarawak government to impose a total lockdown of at least a month to prevent the Covid-19 situation in the state from deteriorating any further.

Its president Voon Lee Shan said the state government should understand that saving lives is more important than saving the economy at the moment.

"This is because each day, there are people infected by Covid-19 and there is no sign that it will stop, unless there is a total lockdown for a period of time,” he said in a statement.

Voon was responding to Chief Minister Datuk Patinggi Abang Johari Openg’s recent Hari Raya Aidilfitri message that the state government would not implement the movement control (MCO), but would continue with the conditional movement control order (CMCO).

According to the chief minister, enforcing the MCO would be detrimental to the state’s economic activities.

Voon said it seems that the state government has failed in its efforts to fight Covid-19, adding the federal government has not rendered much help to the state since the outbreak occurred in Malaysia early last year.

He added other countries have shown that only total lockdown is the most effective way to combat Covid-19 and there is no reason why the state government should not do the same.

"There will be more deaths coming and this should not be allowed at the expense of saving the economy,” he said.