Agriculture, plantation sectors resume full operation in Sabah

 

Masidi Manjun says any worker who shows symptoms of the virus must immediately seek treatment and be quarantined.

KOTA KINABALU: Sabah has allowed certain activities under the agriculture and plantation sector to resume full operations from tomorrow.

State local government and housing minister Masidi Manjun said in order to smoothen the operations in these sectors, rubber, cocoa and palm oil plantations can now operate at full strength with all workers returning to duty.

He added that the livestock, farming and fishery industries will also be allowed to operate at full capacity.

He pointed out, however, that all workers must comply with the Covid-19 SOPs, such as health screening, recording body temperature as well as wearing face masks, among others.

“Employers must prepare the workplace protocols to help stop the spread of Covid-19 according to standards set by the health ministry,” he said, in a statement here today.

Masidi, who is Sabah’s official spokesman on Covid-19, said any worker who shows symptoms of the virus must immediately seek treatment and be quarantined.

“Hence, the plantation owners or smallholders must prepare a proper quarantine centre in such an event,” he said.

He also reminded employers to immediately notify the health department if more than 5% of their workforce are absent from work due to fever or other symptoms of the virus.

Meanwhile, Masidi said agriculture-based factories as well as stores selling farming essentials, such as machines, fertiliser and weed killers, and hardware stores selling agriculture heavy machinery, will only be allowed to operate with up to 50% of the staff reporting for duty.

Other agriculture-based stores or premises allowed to operate at 50% capacity are workshops for machine repairs and electrical shops that sell cold storage equipment, among others.

Other areas within the agriculture industry permitted to operate under the same capacity are those in the transport, marketing, import and export activities.

Meanwhile, the health department has added a total of 662 beds at several quarantine and treatment centres, bringing the total number of beds in Sabah now to 7,859.

The state government has also distributed 102,730 food baskets to affected residents, he added. - FMT