KUCHING, May 14 — The state Ministry of Local Government and Housing has made it an offence for anyone who is ordered to undergo a stay-home quarantine for Covid-19 to leave their homes without permission, its minister Datuk Seri Dr Sim Kui Hian said today.
He said this follows the gazetting of the Protection of Public Health (Movement of Persons in Infected Local Areas) Order, 2020, under Section 15 of the Public Health Ordinance, 1999 yesterday.
He said previously there was no law compelling people not to leave their homes while undergoing a stay-home quarantine order.
“The move to gazette the Order is to prevent a second wave of Covid-19 outbreaks in the state,” he told a media briefing presided by Sarawak Disaster Management Committee (SDMC) chairman Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah.
He said the Order is targeted at Sarawakians, including students, who are ordered to stay at home upon returning from peninsula Malaysia, Sabah and abroad.
Dr Sim said under the Order, any person may be required to comply with any measure determined by the minister for the purposes of monitoring his movements within the state.
“The measures may include the use of electronic tagging or any other means as issued by the Sarawak Disaster Management Committee with the approval of the minister,” he said.
He said any person who contravenes any provision of this Order or any direction made commits an offence.
“This Order shall be deemed to have come into force from May 4, 2020 until June 9, 2020 and shall be read together with the Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases (Measures within Infected Local Areas) (No. 6) Regulations 2020,” Dr Sim said.
Uggah, meanwhile, said the state’s Covid-19 curve appears to be flattening as indicated by the declining number of positive cases and the increasing number of recoveries.
“This is mainly due to the cooperation of the public in complying with the stay-at-home directive during the movement control order and conditional movement control order,” he said.
Uggah, who is also the deputy chief minister, said Sarawak recorded zero new positive cases and nine recoveries today.
He added eight of the recoveries are from the Sarawak General Hospital and one from Sibu Hospital.
