FORMER minister Tan Sri Rafidah Aziz has expressed her concern that a new COVID-19 cluster will soon emerge at a vaccination centre in Kuala Lumpur recently.
This is after a videoclip went viral yesterday that saw foreigners and locals lining up outside the Grand Seasons Hotel welfare home vaccination centre (PPV) with little regard for physical distancing.
In a Facebook post, Rafidah observed that there was nobody there to manage the crowd outside the PPV, with vaccine hopefuls seen bumping into one another.
“This will surely spark a new COVID-19 cluster, and if that happens it is going to be difficult to trace the source of infection,” she commented.
The former international trade and industry minister further expressed her disappointment with the incident and sympathised with the frontliners who were working hard to cope with the surge in the number of daily COVID-19 cases.
Rafidah went on to question what health minister Datuk Seri Dr Adham Baba and the minister overseeing the vaccination programme Khairy Jamaluddin would do to address the situation.
“What is the message that we are sending to the public? That we can get infected at vaccination centres?” she demanded.
Comedian Harith Iskander, who shared the videoclip on his Facebook page, commented:
Elsewhere on Twitter, netizens have similarly expressed their concern. User @IzzatiEmylia, for example, shared: “If this is the situation, is there still hope for Malaysia to recover?”
“This is my Malaysia. We only take action when things go viral, and this is followed by a press conference where someone offers their apologies,” said user @Ang_Kebun sarcastically.
Meanwhile, user YM Tang commented:
“This has happened at KL Convention Centre, Melawati Stadium and more recently, at Midlands Shah Alam and now this is happening at Grand Seasons Hotel.
“What has happened to the people managing the PPV? We Malaysians do not want another cluster. Can you imagine if hundreds of people get infected from situations such as these?
“The authorities should constantly remind people to follow the SOPs. We are already devastated by the number of deaths each day.”
In the latest news update, it is said that the overcrowding at Rumah Prihatin at Grand Seasons Hotel was due to a misunderstanding that it was offering walk-in COVID-19 vaccinations for non-citizens, according to the management of the centre.
Walk-in vaccination for foreigners is actually being carried out at the vaccination centre in Bukit Jalil and not at Rumah Prihatin at Grand Seasons Hotel.
In a statement, the Rumah Prihatin at Grand Seasons management said it only provides walk-in vaccination for Malaysians, with priority given to senior citizens, persons with disabilities (PwD), and marginalised and vulnerable groups. – Aug 12, 2021
