THE two-week movement-control order (MCO) in the districts of Sibu, Selangau and Kanowit will cost the Sarawak government RM5.1 million in providing food assistance to some 3,800 people who are locked down, said Chief Minister Abang Johari Openg.

The movement restrictions started on January 6 and should be lifted on January 29 if there is extension made.

The districts in central Sarawak were slapped with the MCO to break the chain of transmission in the state’s most active and largest Covid-19 cluster – the Pasai cluster.

Yesterday, there were 90 new cases linked to the cluster with 33 detected in Sibu alone to bring the number of infections in the cluster to 754 cases.

A total of 4,250 people – those who had attended a funeral in the longhouse on the outskirts of Sibu or have come into contact with those who had attended the funeral – have been screened for the virus to date.

Abang Johari, who helped hand out some of the food packages on the penultimate day of the distribution, said those who needed assistance were from 700 families in 32 longhouses.

The basic items in the package included rice, sugar, flour, canned sardines, tea, coffee, cooking oil, biscuits and instant noodles.

Apart from food, other necessities such as milk, baby formula and sanitary napkins were also provided.

The food assistance was also extended to 52 front liners administering one quarantine centre, and another 46 to security personnel manning four roadblocks.

In the first MCO in March last year, the state government spent RM16.4 million in food assistance for over 380,00 households state-wide.

– January 20, 2021.