Ng said the state government must prioritise vaccination for senior citizens in nursing homes following reports of 26 Covid-19 cases and one death at two homes in Kuching.

“If the government had taken a proactive plan of getting all the aged and elderly vaccinated first, the incidence of widespread infection and tragic deaths could have been prevented altogether,” she said in a statement.

Ng warned that nursing homes for the elderly risked a “massive outbreak” of infections, adding that they were a vulnerable group most susceptible to the virus.

She said medical personnel should be mobilised to go to the nursing homes because most of the residents there had difficulty moving around due to old age.

Ng also claimed smaller nursing homes were being told to wait for their turn, as they had fewer residents under their care.

The Sarawak Health Department previously detected the Iris Garden and Jalan Stampin clusters at two elderly care homes in Kuching, involving 26 positive cases and one death.

It had said both clusters were caused by close contact among the residents.