KUCHING, Oct 2 — Eatery proprietors in Padawan Municipal Council (MPP) areas must provide customers with hot water to soak eating utensils or risk having their trade licences cancelled.

MPP chairman Lo Khere Chiang said utensils such as forks, spoons and chopsticks must be soaked in hot water first before being used in order to kill bacteria or viruses and prevent spread of diseases.

"This is in fact one of the conditions attached to the license. Action can be taken including to cancel their license if they fail to do so.

"Therefore, all business operators in areas of jurisdiction under MPP are advised to comply with all the regulations, including Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) now put in place due to the (Covid-19) pandemic,” he said today.

Lo was in 10th Mile bazaar or Kota Padawan to distribute and paste stickers on ‘Soak spoons, forks and chopsticks in hot water’ at eateries there today.

On a related matter, Lo said all business operators in MPP areas are also encouraged to utilise the latest contact tracing apps at their respective businesses.

He said apps such as QR codes for MySejahtera, Qumunity and Covid Trace should be placed at these premises for customers to ‘check in’, in addition to the manual method of writing particulars on books.

"These apps were developed to help with the efforts to curb the spread of Covid-19. These will enable the relevant agencies especially Ministry of Health to take immediate action if there is a case,” he added. — Borneo Post