KOTA KINABALU: The Sabah government is going all out to acquire essential equipment for medical teams to curb Covid-19 transmission in the state.
Chief Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal said this includes getting more reagents to confirm the presence of the virus in samples, as well as obtaining instruments to clean medical protection suits from China.
He said the state government was working closely with the Ministry of Health, especially with Sabah Health Department director Datuk Dr Christina Rundi, on matters pertaining to the novel coronavirus situation in the state.
"I've also indicated to Health director-general Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah that we are willing to give them a hand to acquire some of the things needed. We will do our level best," he said.
Shafie said he has personally communicated with quarters with access to test kits, medical protection jackets as well as cleaning instruments, which were only available in China.
"We are looking at it seriously. Hopefully, we can acquire them soon," he said speaking at a press conference after inspecting 170,000 boxes of personal protection equipment (PPE) donated by China to the state government at the Terminal 2 Airport here.
The PPE arrived at 3.10pm via a special flight from Guangzhou, China. Present were state Deputy Chief Minister cum Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Datuk Christina Liew and Consul-General of China in Kota Kinabalu Liang Caide.
On non-governmental organisations wishing to distribute essential needs to the people, Shafie advised them to minimise movement and to work with existing machineries that were tasked with distributing food supply.
"We understand that they want to assist. However, there is a proper channel for it and we need to make use of the existing machineries.
"If they are too many organisations moving around, it may impede efforts to reduce Covid-19 spread. We don't want to prevent them but in this situation we have to minimise contact," he said.
He noted that the state government would also be providing face masks and sanitisers to all schools, higher learning institutions, as well as places of worship.
Meanwhile, Liang said the 170,000 boxes of PPE purchased by the Chinese Consulate in Sabah is a mark of appreciation to the state government for helping China when the country faced critical times during the first Covid-19 outbreak in Wuhan.
While not all equipment such as surgical masks, sanitisers, and protective suits were delivered today due to the aircraft capacity, he assured that more resources would be coming in to Sabah as soon as possible.
"I have communicated with various local government authorities in China and I'm sure more resources will be delivered to Sabah. We sincerely hope these resources will be helpful for Sabah in battling against Covid-19."
Liang also said the donation from the Chinese government to the Malaysian government, in general, has already arrived in Kuala Lumpur.