Sarawak not imposing Putrajaya's 'total lockdown'

 

Sarawak won't implement the nationwide "total lockdown" announced by Putrajaya which is set to take effect next Tuesday.

The state had previously also snubbed Putrajaya's third movement control order (MCO 3.0) and remained under the more lenient conditional MCO.

The state only agreed to be placed under MCO 3.0 starting today even though it was already implemented across the rest of the country since May 12.

Sarawak's Tourism, Arts and Culture Minister Abdul Karim Rahman Hamzah maintained there won't be a total lockdown on the economy.

He said as of yesterday evening, there was no discussion by Sarawak Disaster Management Committee on a total lockdown.

"We're different from West Malaysia. We can't shut down the economic sector," he was quoted as saying by Astro Awani.

Muhyiddin yesterday announced a total lockdown similar to the first MCO (MCO 1.0) last year that saw many economic and social sectors shut down.

This was despite Muhyiddin insisting an MCO 1.0 cannot be done due to the steep economic cost just a week ago.

The "total lockdown" is expected to last for 14 days.

Muhyiddin had said measures were needed to prevent the healthcare system from collapsing as new daily cases nationwide hit a record high of 8,290 yesterday. 

Sarawak recorded 698 new cases yesterday, which is the fifth-highest among the states and territories in Malaysia. - Mkini