1 MILLION UNDER TEMCOM
A MOVEMENT restriction order on a scale not seen since March is imposed in four districts in Sabah to stop an alarming surge in Covid-19 cases.
FOUR districts in Sabah have been placed under the Targeted Enhanced Movement Control Order (TEMCO) for two weeks starting today after recording more than 1,000 Covid-19 cases this month.
Senior Minister (Security Cluster) Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob said the four districts were Lahad Datu, Tawau, Kunak and Semporna.
He said the order was necessary to enable the authorities to conduct targeted active case detection involving 962,661 people in the four districts and break the virus transmission chain.
“The Health Ministry confirms that 1,195 Covid-19 cases have been detected in Lahad Datu, Tawau, Kunak and Semporna from Sept 1 to Sept 27.
“Of the total, 241 cases were detected in Lahad Datu, 634 in Tawau, 65 in Kunak and 255 in Semporna.
“Taking into consideration the number of cases recorded, the government, on the advice of the health minister, has agreed to enforce TEMCO in the affected areas,” he said yesterday.
Ismail Sabri said residents were not allowed to leave their areas throughout the 14 days.
Outsiders and visitors would not be allowed to enter the districts and entry and exit points would be closed to the public.
He said only premises offering basic needs and essential services would be allowed to operate.
Other businesses, he said, were not allowed to operate.
“A medical base will be activated in areas under TEMCO.
“To ensure compliance with the order, the police, the armed forces, Civil Defence Force, People’s Volunteer Corps (Rela), local authorities and authorised officers will be deployed to man the areas.”
He urged the people affected by the order to remain calm and cooperate with the authorities.
Meanwhile, the surge in Covid-19 cases did not deter pubgoers and nightclub patrons from continuing to violate the Recovery Movement Control Order standard operating procedures.
Some 577 people were arrested for patronising pubs and nightclubs on Sunday.
Ismail Sabri said 661 people were arrested by the police on the same day; 648 were fined and the rest remanded.
“Also caught were those who engaged in activities that made physical distancing difficult (42), not wearing face masks (30) and failing to provide equipment to register patrons’ details (eight).
“Some premises were found to be operating beyond permitted hours (three) and one person violated home quarantine.”
He said 2,551 compliance inspection teams held checks at 3,330 supermarkets, 4,181 restaurants, including 1,502 hawkers, 1,122 factories, 3,419 banks and 550 government offices.
“The teams inspected 1,494 land transport terminals, 209 water transport terminals and 101 air transport terminals.”
On the implementation of Op
Benteng, he said the authorities detained 40 undocumented foreigners, five boat skippers and a smuggler, apart from seizing nine vehicles.
Between July 24 and Sept 27, he said 36,344 people had returned to the country from 33 countries: the Philippines, Thailand, Indonesia, Cambodia, Singapore, Vietnam, Brunei, Laos, Qatar, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Hong Kong, India, United Arab Emirates, Japan, Turkey, South Korea, Iran, Nepal, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Timor Leste, Taiwan, China, United Kingdom, Netherlands, Papua New Guinea, Egypt, Spain, France, Australia, New Zealand and the United
States.
“They have been placed at 66 hotels and nine other premises, including public training institutes and public learning institutes. Of the total, 8,235 people are under quarantine while 103 have been admitted to hospitals.
“A total of 28,006 people have been discharged.”
The Housing and Local Government Ministry carried out 10,135 sanitation operations in 135 zones since March 30.
“A total of 13,059 premises have been sanitised comprising 2,716 business centres, 1,601 housing areas, 2,623 public places, 354 supermarkets and 5,765 government offices.
“Up to Sunday, 12 operations were conducted covering two red zones, two yellow zones and six green zones in Kedah, Sabah, Penang, Sarawak and Pahang.”
He added that the Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Ministry had conducted checks on 12 essential items at 485 retailers, 161 wholesalers and 29 manufacturers nationwide.