KUCHING, Dec 30 ― The State Disaster Management Committee (SDMC) will discuss preparations on how to handle tourists from China wishing to visit Sarawak, said Deputy Premier Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas.

"We are going to discuss this issue today,” the SDMC chairman told The Borneo Post today.

He was addressing a tweet from former health minister Datuk Seri Dzulkefly Ahmad, who said with more than 50 per cent of Chinese nationals testing positive for Covid-19 upon landing at Milan Airport, global alarm bells and coordination need to be louder.

Dzulkefly had pointed out that India, Japan, and the United States are requiring a negative Covid-19 test from Chinese nationals.

"ls Malaysia ready ...? Not something to ignore ... but not overly-alarmist though,” he said.

AFP reported that the United States and Italy announced mandatory Covid-19 testing for travellers from China as Beijing’s sudden abandonment of tough measures to contain the coronavirus — and surge in virus cases — caused jitters around the world.

Hospitals and crematoriums across China continue to be overwhelmed by the explosion of Covid cases, which have hit the elderly especially hard.

The winter surge comes ahead of next month’s Lunar New Year holidays, for which hundreds of millions of people are expected to travel to their hometowns to reunite with relatives.

Citing the need to protect Americans’ health, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced that from January 5, all air travellers originating in China will have to provide a new negative Covid test to airlines before they depart.

A senior US health official told reporters the recent rapid increase in Covid-19 transmission in China increases the potential for new variants emerging. ― Borneo Post