THE Sarawak disaster management committee has ordered areas flagged by the Hotspot Identification for Dynamic Engagement (HIDE) system as potential Covid-19 hotspots, to reduce the number of their patrons to 25% of their normal capacity.

In the latest standard operating procedure (SOP) released today, the committee said the listed areas must also be immediately sanitised.

Four major shopping malls in Sarawak – Plaza Merdeka and Vivacity megamall in Kuching, the Spring in Bintulu and the Summer mall in Kota Samarahan – made it to the maiden list announced by Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Khairy Jamaluddin last Saturday.

The SOP also stated these Covid-19 hotspots take steps to ensure that only patrons with “low-risk” status are allowed to enter their premises.

The new “tightened SOP”, designed to break the chain of transmission of the infection which has seen a spike since January, also made it mandatory for the management of the hotspot areas to monitor the health of all workers in their premises for a period of 14 days and order them to take the Covid-19 test if they show symptoms of an infection.

Yesterday, the committee had announced that dine-in in restaurants, food shops, coffeeshops, bistros, cafes and hawker stalls are no longer permitted until June 7 – the end of the state’s conditional movement-control order.

These food places however, are permitted to remain open for takeaways and deliveries.

Conferences and meetings in hotels for both the private and public sectors are still banned in the new list.

So are seminars, workshops and training courses. Exception is however, on service training held in designated training centres.

Meanwhile, Deputy Chief Minister Douglas Uggah, who chairs the committee, earlier today made a working visit to the Covid-19 one-stop centre and Covid-19 assessment centre at the Kuching South city hall’s community hall in Padungan.

He was briefed on the functions of the centre by its doctor in charge Dr Cheong Yaw Liang, Kuching division medical officer, Dr Eunice Mellisa Joseph and infectious disease specialist Dr Chua Hock Hin.

The one-stop centre, which started operating on May 3, provides services like Covid-19 tests, assessment on Covid-19 signs and symptoms, issuing compounds for SOP violations and issuance of quarantine and release orders.

To date, 3,408 people had taken their Covid-19 test at the centre, with another 2,407 tested by the centre’s mobile team. – May 12, 2021.