SARAWAK today reset the closing time of all hypermarkets, supermarkets, markets, coffee shops, food courts, private clinics and restaurants, including fast-food restaurants, by one hour from 8pm to 7pm.

The new operating hours set by the state Disaster Management Committee for the duration of the nationwide movement control order, from 7am to 7pm, will come into force on Tuesday.

Last Wednesday, the state Housing and Local Government Ministry directed all hypermarkets, supermarkets, markets, coffee shops, food courts, private clinics and restaurants to close at 8pm.

Last Friday, the committee ordered 24-hour fast-food restaurants to also close shop at 8pm.

However, convenience stores, like 7-eleven, KK Mart and petrol stations, were exempted from the directive and allowed to operate round the clock.

That exemption has been scrapped.

All convenient stores and petrol stations must now follow the new directive and operate only between 7am to 7pm daily.

“This is necessary to stop public movement, which is still heavy in certain places,” Deputy Chief Minister Douglas Uggah, who chairs the committee, said today.

He said the directive had to be taken to break the chain of transmission of the Covid-19 virus.

In further enforcing the MCO, Kuching North City Hall today also ordered all roadside hawker stalls and village grocery shops in areas under its jurisdiction to shutter.

Its enforcement officers have been deployed to advise and order hawkers and shop proprietors to close immediately. – March 22, 2020.