SARAWAK ditched the National Security Council’s recommendation for the movement-control order (MCO) to be imposed in the state’s most populous districts, saying the move was not practical.

State disaster management committee chairman Deputy Chief Minister Douglas Uggah said the state will continue with the two-week conditional MCO (CMCO) that came into effect last Tuesday.

The NSC last night announced on its website the districts of Kuching, Sibu, Miri, Bintulu and Meradong will be under the MCO from tomorrow until April 29.

It later took down the announcement with no explanation given.

Uggah said the committee’s experience in the use of the MCO as circuit breaker in Sibu from January 15 to March 1 showed the difficulty to manage a large area.

He said, for one, it overstretched the resources of the enforcement agencies, particularly the police, army and People’s Volunteer Corps in policing movement in a large area.

Uggah also said the state will, at the same time, employ the targeted enhanced MCO (EMCO) in high-risk areas.

“From our experience, the use of the EMCO with a clear SOP (standard operating procedure) and tight enforcement are more effective in breaking the chain of infections,” he said.

Targeted EMCO, Uggah added, is easier to manage, particularly in small areas like villages and longhouses.

It had reduced the number of infections when it was imposed previously, he said.

To further tighten measures to curb the spread of the infection, which has been in triple digits in the past month, inter-zone travel would be made more difficult.

Uggah said in the case of the state’s civil service, civil servants from Monday are banned from travelling to districts outside their designated zones.

He said if travel is necessary, then it must have the approval from their heads of department.

There will also be no physical meeting for the next two weeks with all meetings to be done online.

Ministerial events that have been lined up for the next two weeks will have to be deferred.

Uggah said one of the contributing factors in the spike in new cases was the “easy access” of travelling from one zone to another.

He said from Monday, the conditions for securing the police permit to travel will be a lot harder.

“We have (drawn up new travel) regulations, where movement from one zone to another will be allowed.

“It will be more regulated,” Uggah said, adding further details will be announced tomorrow. – April 15, 2021.