By Karen Bong
KUCHING, Nov 7: Conditional Movement Control Order (CMCO) will be imposed in Kuching for two weeks starting Nov 9 to 22 given the surge in Covid-19 cases in the district which is still classified as a high-risk area.
State Disaster Management Committee (SDMC) chairman Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas announced that this decision was made after evaluating the current Covid-19 situation in Kuching which recorded a total of 151 local transmission cases in the past 14 days as of today (Nov 7).
“The details of the standard operating procedure (SOP) for CMCO will be revealed tomorrow (Nov 8).
“But basically, all economic activities except entertainment outlets and reflexology outlets in Kuching, can operate as usual but there will be some adjustments such as time limit,” he told a press conference on Covid-19 situation in Sarawak today.
Uggah emphasised that in fact, this measure had been enforced on Oct 3, and now to be extended as it was important to curb further spread of the infection as well as to cut the transmission.
As such, Uggah, who is also Deputy Chief Minister, pointed out that police permit will be required to travel in and out of Kuching district as well as to cross states between Peninsular Malaysia, Sabah and Labuan.
“This means those who intend to come into Kuching and travel out of Kuching will need to obtain a permit from police.
“Workers in the private and public sector will need to obtain letters of authorisation from their heads of department respectively,” he explained.
However, he added that the restrictions will not be imposed in other districts whereby people in Sri Aman can still travel to Betong or Betong to Sibu or Sibu to Miri.
“But if those in Betong want to go to Kuching, they will need to apply for a police permit,” he said.
Minister of Local Government and Housing Datuk Seri Dr Sim Kui Hian and State Health director Dr Chin Zin Hing were present. — DayakDaily
