GEORGE TOWN, July 5 — The state government has kicked off its Covid-19 mass screening programme  (PSC19)  at the City Stadium here today, as it aims to test about 1,000 individuals from six constituencies on the island. 

Local government, housing and town and country planning committee chairman Jagdeep Singh Deo said about 7,800 individuals from all 40 constituencies in the state have registered for PSC19 since the programme was announced last week. 

"This is a good start, we hope more will come forward to register for the programme with their respective state assemblymen,” he said after visiting the PSC19 programme at the city stadium with Penang Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow today.

For today, he said registrants from Sungai Pinang, Padang Kota, Datok Keramat, Pulau Tikus, Batu Lanchang and Pengkalan Kota will undergo the screening exercisefrom 8am to 5pm.

The screening at the city stadium is only for one day and results will be obtained within two hours. 

"After conducting the test, they don’t have to wait here for the results, they can go home and there will be a procedure for those with positive results,” he said.

The next mass screening will be held in Seberang Perai but the location is yet to be finalised, he said.

"We will continue next round this weekend on July 10 on the mainland for those from six constituencies, namely, Perai, Seberang Jaya, Penanti, Permatang Pasir, Sungai Dua and Permatang Berangan,” he said.

After the mass screening on the mainland, it will again be held on the island for those from other constituencies. 

"Phase One of the programme ends on July 30 and we will then move to PhaseTwo but it might even start earlier as we hope to be able to complete screening for 40,000 people within 40 days,” he said.

Penang Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow speaks to reporters during a visit to the City Stadium in George Town July 5, 2021. — Picture by Sayuti Zainudin

Earlier, Chow said mass screening is important to identify positive cases to stop the spread of the Covid-19 virus.

"We must remember the 3Ts, testing, tracing and treatment, which are important to stop the spread of Covid-19,” he said.

He said the mass screening’s objective is to reduce the number of cases in the community.

"This is important as one of the threshold indicators for us to move on to Phase Two of the national recovery plan is to reduce the number of cases in the community,” he said. 

Chow said Penang has to maintain its threshold indicator of less than an average of 217 cases per week in order to move on to the next phase.

"This is not based on the daily number of cases but the average cases per week so even if we have 250 cases one day, that doesn’t mean the average cases per week is higher than 217, it could be lower,” he said.

However, Chow pointed out that if the average cases per week are higher than 217 cases, even if Penang was already in Phase Two of the national recovery plan, it could be downgraded back to Phase One. 

"Even if we are in Phase Three, we can still be downgraded to Phase One,” he said.

He said this was why screening remains important in reducing the number of cases in the community. 

Those interested may go to https://penangsaring.selangkah.my to register for the PSC19 programme.