SIBU, Jan 14 — Enforcement of the movement control order (MCO) is necessary now in Sibu to avoid a worse situation of Covid-19 infection which has reached a very worrying level.
Sarawak Public Health and Housing Assistant Minister Dr Annuar Rapaee said if the MCO was not implemented now, the situation could deteriorate until it became uncontrollable.
“We cannot afford to wait until the number of cases increases or drops. The time (for MCO implementation) is now,” he said in an interview via Zoom with Bernama and RTM, here, today.
He called on residents in Sibu Division covering the districts of Sibu, Selangau and Kanowit to comply with the MCO to curb the spread of Covid-19 during the order period.
“If all of us adhere to the MCO these two weeks, I am confident we can break the Covid-19 infection chain in Sibu,” he said.
Annuar said the high viral infection in Sibu was concentrated in the Pasai Siong area where the Pasai Cluster started on January 7.
Currently, he said, the Covid-19 screening was focused on the area which saw 19 longhouses imposed with movement restriction since January 10.
The Sarawak State Disaster Management Committee (JPBN) has reported 157 additional cases in the Pasai Cluster today, bringing the total number in this cluster to 462.
Some 1,400 individuals from this cluster have been screened and out of this number, 888 were detected to be negative while 50 are still waiting for the results.
JPBN has decided that the MCO implementation in Sibu Division be effective from 12.01am, January 16 to 11.59pm, January 29 (14 days) and the related SOP be announced to the public tomorrow.
Meanwhile, the conditional MCO (CMCO) in Sarikei Division which has previously been declared a red zone together with Sibu, remains. — Bernama
