IT is now a criminal offence in Sarawak to violate the quarantine and stay-home orders issued by the authorities.

Tampering electronic tracking devices they are ordered to wear can also land an offender with a hefty fine or jail time.

State Housing and Local Government Minister Dr Sim Kui Hian, however, did not state what the penalties were, but said the orders he had gazetted under Section 15 of the Protection of Public Health Ordinance, 1999 (measures on the carrying out of activities in infected local areas) were to give legal standing on some of the measures the state had announced in its fight against the Covid-19 pandemic.

“We are worried about the second wave,” he said at the state’s daily Covid-19 briefing in Kuching today.

The orders, which came into force yesterday, ends on June 9.

Among them are measures for monitoring the movement of those in quarantine at home under the stay-home order.

The measures may also include the use of electronic tagging or any other means issued by the Sarawak Disaster Management Committee with the approval of the minister.

The gazette also gives the state Health director the power, from time to time and with approval of the minister, to issue “any direction in any manner, whether generally or specifically to any person or group of persons, necessary for carrying out the provisions of the order”.

With the pandemic curve “flattening”, with the state reporting another day with no new Covid-19 positive cases, Sim said the first wave of the pandemic in the state peaked at week 14.

He said with the state allowing major parts of the economy to resume, the people should not be too complacent and those under suspicion need to be monitored and kept under surveillance. – May 14, 2020.