KUCHING, Aug 3: Sarawak will enter Phase 3 of the National Recovery Plan (NRP) starting tomorrow (Aug 4), except for districts in the Southern Region including Kuching, Samarahan, Serian, Lundu, Bau, Tebedu, Simunjan and Asajaya.
The State Disaster Management Committee (SDMC) in its daily update on the Covid-19 situation in Sarawak today, said that Sarawak welcomed Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin’s announcement that Sarawak, Labuan and Perlis will be the first three states in Malaysia to transition into NRP Phase 3 beginning tomorrow (Aug 4).
However, SDMC emphasised that NRP Phase 3 will only be implemented once the proposed standard operating procedure (SOP) has been approved including after getting the advice from medical professionals.
As such, the existing SOP will still be enforced in the meantime.
In addition, for the safety and health of the people, SDMC pointed out that the NRP Phase 3 implementation for the Southern Region will be postponed until the number of cases show a satisfactory downward trend.
The Southern Region comprises the divisions of Kuching, Samarahan and Serian which include the districts of Lundu, Bau, Kuching, Serian, Tebedu, Samarahan, Simunjan and Asajaya.
SDMC thus expressed gratitude to the Prime Minister for his confidence in the efforts taken by Sarawak in managing the Covid-19 pandemic to allow Sarawak to transition into NRP Phase 3 starting tomorrow.
Muhyiddin explained yesterday (Aug 2) that the decision for the three states to move into NRP Phase 3 was made at a Special National Security Council (NSC) meeting as the states have exhibited very good results.
Under NRP Phase 3, some of the activities allowed are social gatherings such as the organising of wedding, engagement, tahlil and reception.
For couples looking to tie the knot, it may be a good time to revisit their plans although the capacity of guests is limited to 50 per cent of the premises capacity or a maximum of 200 people.
For sports enthusiasts, individual and team sporting events for training and tournament purposes will be allowed subject to guidelines from the Youth and Sports Ministry.
Apart from that, all private sectors are allowed to operate with full capacity.
In spite of that, some businesses for instance nightclubs or pubs, karaoke centres and cinemas are still banned under NRP Phase 3.
Inter-state travel is still not allowed but inter-district moevement is subjected to the rules set by SDMC.— DayakDaily
