Three additional vaccination centres in Penang this month

GEORGE TOWN: Three additional vaccination centres will begin operation in Penang this month, adding to the five existing centres.

Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow said three sites Identified as suitable locations are the Penang Pesta site for Timur Laut district, SPICE Arena for Barat Daya district and Seberang Jaya expo site for Central Seberang Perai district.

"There will be three more vaccination centres this June. The operating hours for centres will also be extended from Mondays till Saturdays with the number of daily shots increased as well," he said in a statement here today.

He added that Penang would mobilise existing machinery, both government and private sectors, to enable the vaccinations to be completed by October 2021 as announced by the federal government yesterday.

Currently, the five halls in Penang used as vaccination centres are Kompleks Masyarakat Penyayang in Timur Laut district; Kompleks Sukan Balik Pulau (Barat Daya); Dewan Millennium in Kepala Batas (North Seberang Perai), Dewan Serbaguna Jawi (South Seberang Perai) and Seberang Perai Arena Convention Centre (Central Seberang Perai).

Yesterday, Chow also announced that six private hospitals will be involved in the vaccination process involving the public starting from the second week of this month.

In a statement today, Chow added that the Penang State Security Special Committee meeting decided several approaches to curb the spread of clusters in the manufacturing sector today.

"The approaches include making COVID-19 screenings mandatory for all new workers, employers have to postpone new worker intake if there are active positive cases in the factory, and the Penang branch of the International Trade and Industry Ministry (MITI) is required to issue standard operating procedures and closure orders to factories in the event of any violation," he said.

-- BERNAMA