Taking protective measures
In a daily press briefing on the 28 January 2021 by Senior Ministry (Defense) Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob, he has mentioned that the management of condominiums and apartments are allowed to request residents to take COVID-19 tests and provide the results before allowing them to enter their units.
Will the management of condominiums and apartments take heed and strongly implement this advice by Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob? It also begs the question on whether this advice will later turn into a rule imposed by the government if COVID-19 cases are frequently occurring in condominiums and apartments.
Living with the new normal
With the implementation of the MCO (Movement Control Order) 2.0, social activities are prohibited in order to maintain social distancing. In accordance to condominiums and apartments rules, residents are prohibited from using the facilities and to always maintain the SOP (Standard Operating Procedure) set by the management such as wearing face mask at common areas, regular hand sanitisation and so on.
These SOPs alone should be enough to prevent the widespread of COVID-19 in condominiums and apartments. However, there still cases in condominiums and apartments being detected.
Some residents at Armanee Terrace Condominium, Damansara Perdana were asked about their thoughts on the statement made by Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob.
One resident, who asked to remain anonymous, is strongly against this as the SOPs should be sufficient in order to prevent the widespread of COVID-19.
Another resident has mentioned that “if all residents are following the SOPs stipulated by the management, there would not be any COVID-19 cases in condominiums and apartments. Hence, there should not be a need for the management to request COVID-19 test results from the residents.”
Final thoughts
It is still early to predict whether the statement made by Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob will be enforced. Nevertheless, it is important to stay vigilant and always adhere to the SOPs by the management. The necessity of the management of condominiums and apartments requesting for COVID-19 test results is always debatable but it is the management’s duty to prevent COVID-19 from spreading. Therefore, it is necessary to explore different options to protect the residents.
The personal opinion of the writer of this blog is that it will be more practical when there is a sudden surge of cases within a certain stratified property, the management can ask for all its residents to take a COVID-19 test. Otherwise adhering strictly to the SOP set by the Management within the stratified property should be sufficient.
COVID-19 is in the new normal. To make it allowable for Management of condominiums and apartments to request residents to take COVID-19 tests and provide the results before allowing them to enter their units is not only inconvenient, expensive but totally impractical. Therefore, the best option in this new normal is to strictly practice SOP at all times regardless.