KUCHING, Oct 29: Kampung Haji Baki was the first area in Sarawak to be placed under Enhanced Movement Control Order (EMCO), enforced from Oct 28 until Nov 11, after 27 residents were found to have Covid-19.
Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas informed that the State Disaster Management Committee (SDMC) had obtained permission from the National Security Council (NSC) to enforce the EMCO.
“We have to do it (EMCO) because of the increasing positive cases which is worrying to us.
“Some 4,196 people from 627 households in three blocks there are affected. The police are in charge of the enforcement,” he told the media after visiting the EMCO operation room set up at the mosque compound at Kampung Haji Baki here today.
Uggah was accompanied by Minister for Local Government and Housing Datuk Sri Dr Sim Kui Hian, deputy state secretary Datuk Ik Pahon, state Health Department director Dr Chin Zin Hing and Padawan Municipal Council (MPP) chairman Lo Khere Chieng.
With the current strategy to track, compact and curtail cases, he said the EMCO can be lifted by midnight of Nov 10 if the transmission can be evidently stopped.
He praised the kampung folks for coming forward to do their testing at the mosque compound.
“The Health Department had expected to test around 600 people but 845 had turned up yesterday (Oct 28).
“This shows that they understand what we are doing, which is not to cause hardship or inconvenience to them, but to control the further spread of the sickness,” he noted.
For those with medical appointments at the Sentosa Hospital, Uggah revealed that a temporary clinic had been also set up at the mosque compound.
“We have done the studies on the number of expectant mothers, those needing to obtain their supplies of medicines for high blood, diabetes and other ailments.
“Our medical staffs will visit the sick elderly who are confined to beds or are unfit. The state Welfare Department too has set up a food store here to facilitate and speed up the distribution of food packets.
“We are also allowing food vendors to come in with wet foods. I am confident with the preparations that we have put in place, we will have a successful operation,” he said. —DayakDaily
