Covid-19: Targeted movement restrictions ‘more effective’ — Uggah

KUCHING: A targeted movement restriction or Enhanced Movement Control Order (EMCO) at an area of Covid-19 outbreak seems to be more effective at containing the pandemic rather than a division-wide lockdown, said Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas.

The Sarawak Disaster Management Committee chairman said such targeted movement restrictions were the preferable strategy for the moment with all the entries and exits of an area being shut off to contain the outbreak.

“Remember last time we imposed the MCO for the entire division of Sibu and we found that approach gave rise to a lot of problems for us,” he told a press conference at the old State Legislative Assembly building at Petra Jaya yesterday.

As a result, he said the committee now preferred to have a specific but smaller area to be placed under the EMCO once an outbreak was detected and the necessary assistance, such as distribution of food packets, would be activated.

Nonetheless, Uggah said they had tasked the respective divisional disaster management committees to assess the Covid19 situation on the ground and implement the most suitable measures to bring an outbreak under control.

Citing the 407 longhouses in the state that were previously under lockdown, he explained the strategy of enforcing EMCO or lockdown at a specific village or area of concern had been very successful in containing an Covid-19 outbreak, with only 48 longhouses under lockdown currently.

“Our strategy seems to be very effective so far and we will continue with that approach. With that being said, the committee remains flexible to take whatever action necessary to break the chain of Covid-19 transmission,” said Uggah.