By Adrian Lim
KUCHING, April 5: Hardware and spare part businesses including those selling agrochemical and other agriculture inputs will be allowed to operate twice a week.
These shops are permitted to open Tuesdays and Thursdays, from 7am to 7pm, during the movement control order (MCO), said State Disaster Management Committee deputy chairman Datuk Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah.
He added that the decision was made during the committee meeting today.
“All hardware shops are allowed to open twice a week on Tuesday and Thursday from 7am to 7pm. This includes all those involved in the sales of agriculture input such as fertilisers, pest control and animal feed.
“The same goes to spare parts and accessories shops that provide machinery for the agriculture industry.
“This is some of the adjustments made to enable some businesses to operate during MCO period,” he told the daily Sarawak Covid-19 update press conference at Wisma Bapa Malaysia here.
On a different note, Abdul Karim said with immediate effect, foreigners were not allowed to transit through Sarawak by land, sea and air.
At the same time, the Tourism, Arts and Culture Minister said all flights to and fro Kuala Lumpur-Sibu will be cancelled until April 14.
In the second phase of the MCO period, he said there was an improvement in the compliance rate to 96.1 per cent, as compared to 95 per cent registered yesterday.
Nonetheless, he revealed that there were 25 people were apprehended by the police yesterday throughout Sarawak for violating the MCO.
About 10 of the offenders were detained in Kuching, followed by five in Kota Samarahan, two each in Miri, Bintulu, Sibu and Serian, as well as one each in Padawan and Meradong.
Abdul Karim said there were 4,139 police officers assisted by 1,209 members from various agencies such as the armed forces and the People’s Volunteer Corps (Rela) manning roadblocks across Sarawak. — DayakDaily
