‘Express boats to continue Sibu-Kuching route despite red-zone status’

SIBU: Express boats plying the Sibu-Kuching sector are operating as usual despite Kuching now becoming a Covid19 red zone again, said Sarawak Rivers Board (SRB) Sibu assistant controller Hatta Morshidi.

“Express boats are still operating as usual. We have not received any instruction to cancel the Sibu-Kuching trip,” he said when contacted yesterday.

Kuching was declared a red zone after recording 16 locally transmitted cases Tuesday, bringing its cumulative number of cases over the past 14 days to 49.

The Health Ministry classifies districts that record more than 40 Covid-19 cases in a two-week period as red zones.

Meanwhile, a check yesterday showed that the Kuching-bound express boat departed the terminal here at 11.30am with 16 passengers.

For the record, the daily departure time from Sibu to Kuching is 11.30am, while the Kuching-Sibu express boat departs at 8.30am.

Previously, the Kuching-SibuKuching express boat service was suspended from Aug 1-14 due to the implementation of inter-zone travel restrictions in Sarawak following a spike in Covid-19 cases then.

Meanwhile, Hatta said there has been a decrease in the number of express boat trips for the Sibu-Song-Kapit route following the completion of the road linking Sibu and Kapit.

“Previously, the number of trips for this sector was around 14 per day but with the road connectivity now, there are about eight trips per day on average,” he said.