KOTA KINABALU, Nov 23 — Businesses in Sabah may not yet be able to operate until 12am unlike its counterparts in Peninsular Malaysia who are also under a conditional movement control order (CMCO).
Sabah Covid-19 spokesman Datuk Seri Masidi Manjun said that the state will consider the business environment before deciding on whether or not to permit a business to oeprate until midnight.
“There are two things to look at. The first is strictly on public health, and then there’s the demand — those who may want to open till 12am, for example, mamak eateries — some now close even before the deadline of 10pm.
“The restrictions now are there for public health reasons, but the truth that we all agree on is that businesses are still struggling. They don’t open till 10pm not just because of the SOP, but also because there are just not enough demand,” he said.
Masidi said it was undeniable that economies were still struggling as people are reluctant to come out in the midst of the pandemic.
Earlier today, senior minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob said that restaurants and shops, including sundry shops and petrol stations were allowed to open till midnight effective tomorrow.
Sabah however, will need to go through their respective state governments and apply for permission.
Masidi said that although number of new cases in the state continue to be in the three-digit range, the trend is fairly unpredictable as new clusters still corp up, creating a spike in the statistics. However, community derived cases seem to have stabilised.
He said it was too early to predict whether there will be an extension of the CMCO as authorities monitor the progress on a day-to-day basis.
Today, Sabah recorded 289 new cases, bringing the total cumulative cases to 26,387 cases. There were no new clusters reported.
