16,000 households in Sarawak MCO areas to receive food baskets

 

The Sarawak government will distribute 16,000 food baskets to the heads of households in Kapit, Song, Pelagus, Katibas, Bukit Goram and parts of Belaga following the implementation of the Movement Control Order (MCO) from today until Feb 15.

Sarawak Deputy Chief Minister Awang Tengah Ali Hasan (above) said the food basket aid would be distributed by the Kapit Division Disaster Management Committee in stages starting Thursday.

He said the total allocation for the food basket assistance programme including transportation costs amounted to RM1.42 million.

“With the implementation of the MCO, movement is quite limited and the state government decided to provide assistance, to alleviate the burden of those affected to some extent,” Awang Tengah said after chairing a meeting on the food chain at the Wisma Sumber Alam building in Kuching today.

MCO was imposed on the six areas following an increase in Covid-19 cases involving local infections with part of the Pasai Cluster declared on Jan 9.

Among those involved in channelling the aid include the Malaysian Fire and Rescue Department, the Civil Defence Force, the Malaysian Armed Forces and the Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Ministry, he said.

In the meantime, Awang Tengah said for the food basket assistance programme in Sibu, which was also placed under MCO since Jan 16, as many as 36,805 heads of households have received the aide until now.

- Bernama