IPOH: The sole state assemblyman who is yet to be vaccinated will be seated alone during the upcoming assembly sitting scheduled next week, says Mentri Besar Datuk Saarani Mohamad.

       “Since he is the only one who has yet to be vaccinated, we have to allocate space for him where he will sit alone.

       “We can’t reveal who he is, but you can see it during the state assembly soon,” he said at a press conference held via Zoom yesterday.

       Saarani said the assemblyman did not reveal the reason why he has yet to be vaccinated.

       State assembly Speaker Datuk Mohamad Zahid Abdul Khalid had announced that the sitting, scheduled on Aug 25, would be held in a “bubble” concept, the first in the country.

       The concept, involving the Speaker, assemblymen and other relevant people, consisted of four elements – preparation of accommodation, transportation, expansion of space and requirement for daily testing for those involved.

       On a separate matter, Saarani said Perak was not having any Covid-19 vaccine shortage.

       “As I have mentioned before, we will receive nearly one million doses of vaccines in stages this month. So far, there is no shortage of vaccines in the state,” he added.

       Saarani also said intensive care units in the state were still able to cater to Covid-19 cases.

       “We still have enough beds and so far, there have been no cases of patients sleeping on the floor.

       “People who have recovered will be discharged, so we will have enough beds,” he said.

       On Tuesday, Pasir Pinji assemblyman Howard Lee claimed that the state’s capacity to fight Covid-19 was “beyond breaking points”.

       In his tweets, Lee claimed that ICUs in the state had been operating “beyond maximum capacity”.