SURPRISED by a lockdown, residents in Sg Lui, Hulu Langat, are in the dark about whether all of them need to get tested for Covid-19 and where they will get food supplies.

Many of those The Malaysian Insight spoke to by phone said they are not sure how food will be sent to them after the government imposed an enhanced movement-control order (EMCO) on the area.

Some wonder if all residents are to be screened for the virus and how samples are going to be collected from them, even though the Health Ministry has said it will be done door to door.

The government enforced the EMCO in Sg Lui at midnight on Sunday after authorities detected 71 Covid-19 cases out of 2,714 students at Maahad Tahfiz An-Nabawiyyah in Batu 23 the previous day.

It is the second area to be put under lockdown after two villages in Simpang Renggam last week due to a spike of 61 infections there.

In Johor, the order affects 3,570 residents from 650 families in Kg Dato’ Ibrahim Majid and Bandar Baru Dato’ Ibrahim Majid.

Yesterday, the Menara City One condominium in Kuala Lumpur was placed under the EMCO after authorities detected 17 coronavirus cases in the complex.

The condo in Jalan Munshi Abdullah in the heart of the capital has 3,200 residents in 502 units.

The Sg Lui area under lockdown has 3,918 residents from about 700 households spread over five Malay and two Orang Asli villages.

A Batu 22 resident who identified herself only as Siti said people only learnt about the EMCO, and nothing else is clear.

“It was sudden. All we know is, we have to stay indoors. We have been getting WhatsApp messages, but we don’t know if they are fake or genuine.”

The 26-year-old restaurant operator said she depends on social media pages set up by villagers and the news on television for the latest on the situation.

“An Information Department van on its rounds just ordered us to stay indoors. No other information was relayed.”

Siti said she bought supplies at the start of the nationwide MCO, and they can last her family till the end of the lockdown on April 13.

Nurul Asyikin Yodin, 32, said nobody knows for certain if all residents have to be tested for Covid-19.

“I heard the ministry is going door to door, but some of us are not sure about this as we heard it from other residents,” said the quantity surveyor from Kg Batu 23.

She said she can only confirm that ministry personnel have disinfected Maahad Tahfiz An-Nabawiyyah and its surrounding areas.

No one blames tahfiz school

Nurul Asyikin said villagers heard that a religious teacher at the tahfiz school tested positive for Covid-19.

However, people did not panic as the school self-quarantined after the test, she said.

“We sent food to the school after hearing that their supplies had run out. We also sent them groceries on March 20.”

She said police collected the groceries and sent them to the school as outsiders are not allowed to enter.

“Nobody here blames the school. We are aware of their situation. It’s just that the EMCO caught us by surprise.”

She added that she has stocked up on essential goods and can sustain her family of five over the next two weeks.

Kg Batu 21 head Mohd Razak Jamaluddin said there is no panic in his village.

He said residents are waiting for details on how essentials will be distributed.

The Welfare Department has not yet said anything, but is expected to meet villagers soon, he said.

As of yesterday, there were 2,626 Covid-19 cases in Malaysia with 37 deaths.

Director-General of Health Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah also announced that another 91 patients have recovered, the highest number to date, bringing the total to 479. – March 31, 2020.