THE Penang Island City Council (MBPP) has ordered all its employees to undergo self test once a week instead of once a fortnight after 112 staff members had tested positive over the last four days.
MBPP mayor Datuk Yew Tung Seang the once-a-week testing should begin from Feb 28 as they are concerned with the surge in cases, with 72 of them being frontliners.
“We have no choice but to take swift action to prevent the spread of the infection,” Yew told a virtual press conference after chairing the full council meeting at the City Hall today.
He said RTK self test kits would be provided to all MBPP staff for testing to be done every Monday, and also advised them to self test another time on every Thursday if they could afford the kits.
This, he said, is to nip the problem in the bud by isolating those tested positive.
He, however, admitted that many of the victims did not observe the standard operating procedures (SOPs), like adhering to the physical distancing and wearing masks properly when talking with colleagues and friends or at the eateries.
Yew warned rule breakers that disciplinary action would be taken by the council’s internal audit and enforcement team tasked with monitoring the situation.
To reduce the number of cases, Yew said the council would revert to virtual meetings instead of physical meetings.
He also urged the public to utilise the council’s website to reduce physical contact at the MBPP counters as much as possible, especially when the current assessment has to be settled by Feb 28.
MBPP, Yew said, has over 109 services that are available online and 199 payment services also available online.
There is also good news for island ratepayers as MBPP has approved a rebate on this year’s assessment rates for all properties.
Yew said all low-cost, low medium-cost and kampung houses are given a 100 per cent rebate from the differences of the assessment rate increase in 2020.
For other categories of properties, MBPP is giving a rebate of 50 per cent from the differences of the assessment rate increase in 2020.
Yew said MBPP would lose RM11.6 million in revenue from this rebate exercise.
On another matter, Yew said six MBPP council members have been appointed to sit on the RIBI (non-Muslim houses of worship) Committee.
They are Datuk Francis Joseph, Harvindar Singh a/l Darshan Singh, Wong Yuee Harng, Hari Krishnan Ramakrishnan, Ooh Sin Hwa and Tan Soo Siang.
Over at the Seberang Perai Municipal Council (MBSP), a total of 151 Covid-19 cases were recorded until Feb 24 this year.
This accounts to 3.8 per cent of the MBSP staff population.
Story by K.H. Ong
Pix courtesy of MBPP