'Targeted enhanced MCO on four Sabah districts may be widened to other areas'

 

COVID-19 | The targeted enhanced movement control order (MCO) imposed on four districts in Sabah may be widened to include other areas depending on the development in the state, according to the Health Ministry. 

Its director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said the order may be expanded while speaking about measures taken by the authorities to curb the spread of the coronavirus in Sabah.

"So far, we have only imposed the order on four districts. But there is a possibility that this measure will also include others.

"We will see (based on) the development at the four districts in the next one or two days," he said at a press conference in Putrajaya today. 

The government imposed a 14-day targeted enhanced MCO starting today in Kunak, Lahad Datu, Tawau and Semporna.

This came after the areas recorded a continuous spike in new Covid-19 cases since early this month.

A risk assessment by the ministry, however, found that the outbreak in Sabah is still under a controllable level, Noor Hisham said. 

The targeted enhanced MCO, he added, was imposed so that authorities including health officials can focus more on carrying out case detection activities and implement public health intervention to curb the virus' spread.

These activities are being conducted in areas that have been identified as having a high number of cases.

"From today, we have started the targeted enhanced MCO. However, even though the order is imposed on districts, but our focus is on villages that have been identified.

"Examples are Kampung Sri Tanjong in Tawau and Kampung Bangau-Bangau in Semporna, where we will give 100 percent of our focus.

"Like in Kota Setar, Kedah, there are 28 sub-districts. We did not focus on all 28, but we made a risk assessment and carried out border control and roadblocks, among others," Noor Hisham said. 

[More to follow] - Mkini