KUCHING: Fire and Rescue Department personnel were winched down from a helicopter to deliver Covid-19 vaccines to a flood-hit vaccination centre in the remote Baram area in Sarawak.

       State Fire and Rescue Department director Khirudin Drahman said the helicopter was unable to land at Long Jegan due to flooding in the area.

       "However, we were able to deliver the vaccines by winching our team down.

       "This is our commitment to ensure that the vaccination programme in Sarawak is implemented as planned," he said on Friday (July 16).

       Khirudin said the mission at Long Jegan was part of a scheduled vaccine delivery to rural vaccination centres in the Baram area, including Long Teru, Ulu Teru, Long Teran and Long Luyang.

       Staff at Long Jegan waiting for the Fire and Rescue Department helicopter to deliver vaccines despite floods in the area.

       He said the delivery proceeded smoothly despite the challenges of floods and soft landing ground.

       The team took off from Miri at 9.20am and returned at 11.20am after delivering the vaccines to the five locations.

       Meanwhile, the Miri divisional disaster management committee said the vaccination centres at Long Lama and Long Jegan were closed temporarily due to floods.

       It said the Mulu vaccination centre, which was previously closed because of floods, had now reopened while at Long Luyang, villagers could travel by boat to reach the vaccination centre.

       "Other rural clinics in Miri division are scheduled to administer vaccines on Saturday (July 17) and they will assess the situation in the morning," the committee said in a statement.