KUALA LUMPUR – The enhanced movement control order (EMCO) will be enforced in several areas in Sarawak, Kelantan and Sabah starting tomorrow until May 1, said Senior Minister (Security) Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob.
In a statement on the conditional and recovery MCOs today, he said the EMCO enforcement follows a risk assessment by various agencies in the MCO technical committee and the advice of the Health Ministry (MoH).
The areas involved are Kg Tengah (Betong) and Taman Mesra Bako in Sarawak; Sekolah Menengah Sains Machang in Kelantan; and Sekolah Menengah Agama Kota Kinabalu, three localities in Lahad Datu, as well as three housing areas in Tawau in Sabah.
The three Lahad Datu localities under EMCO are Kg Bikang, Kg Kadumu and Taman Khazanah Indah, while the Tawau ones are Taman Hilltop, Taman Bukit Bintang and Taman Berkley.
Ismail said the EMCO was enforced after MoH confirmed the high infectivity rate of the coronavirus in these areas.
The implementation of the EMCO is also to facilitate MoH’s efforts to carry out targeted screening on all residents, as well as to control the movement of the people and avoid the spread of infection in the community.
Meanwhile, Ismail said the EMCO at Universiti Malaysia Sabah in Kota Kinabalu will be extended until May 2.
He said MoH reported that Covid-19 is still spreading on the campus, and the results of 1,956 screening samples are still pending.
“To date, MoH has conducted 4,524 screening tests, out of which 28 positive cases were reported in this locality,” he said.
In a related development, Ismail said the MCO in Keningau district and EMCO in Kg Pagalungan Ansip and Kg Kalindukan in Sabah will end tomorrow as scheduled.
At the same time, the EMCO in five areas in Pekan, Pahang, involving Taman Mentiga Jaya, Taman Perdana, Perkampungan Peramu Jaya 3, Taman Sepekan Makmur and Kg Pulau Serai ended today, earlier than scheduled (April 22), except in the Pulau Serai Integrated Community Centre, whose lockdown has been extended until April 22.
Meanwhile, he said 72 individuals were arrested yesterday for violating the standard operating procedures. All of them were compounded. – Bernama, April 17, 2021
