Sabah launches fund to help China deal with virus outbreak

KOTA KINABALU: Chief Minister Mohd Shafie Apdal said collections had started for the fund to help China deal with the coronavirus outbreak and hoped over RM1 million could be raised.

Shafie said Sabah was not a rich state but it would do what it could to assist a country in trouble.

“The responsible thing to do is to support China when the country is facing difficulties. We are sympathetic towards China, not just because of the outbreak but also the trade war the country is facing. We can’t be a friend who is only around in the good times but abandon them when times are hard. It is time for us to repay China. When China was doing well, Sabah too had reaped the benefit of their economic spillover from the tourism industry,” he said.

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Tourism, Culture and Environment Minister Christina Liew on Monday night also announced that a charity dinner would be held on Feb 17 to raise money for the fund.

The death toll of the novel coronavirus outbreak has now passed 1,000, claiming more lives than the SARS outbreak in 2003.

China has since imposed a lockdown in the province of Hubei, the epicentre of the outbreak.

Shafie said he was in constant contact with the consul-general’s office in Kota Kinabalu on the latest developments and also to assist China nationals who were stranded or working in Sabah.

He hoped the China government would understand the travel restrictions imposed by the state government as it wanted to protect the people in the state as Sabah lacked medical facilities to handle an outbreak.

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He added that the restrictions were only temporary.

“We will do something when things improve. Or if there is a vaccine that can cure the disease. We will then discuss with the authorities on how to resume the suspended flights,” said Shafie, adding that he was relieved that the state had not recorded any novel coronavirus case yet.

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