ALL Malaysians who wish to travel to Sarawak are now required to first obtain the interstate travel permit from police, said Douglas Uggah Embas.

The deputy chief minister said it is only after that they should apply to the state disaster management committee for permission to enter the state.

Sarawakians returning home from the peninsula, Sabah or Labuan are no exceptions to this new requirement, he said.

Uggah said without the permit, the committee will not entertain their application and they will be barred from entering the state.

The new entry requirement, he added, is in line with Putrajaya’s directive on interstate travel restrictions.

Uggah said the directive is also a step to curb a possible second wave of the pandemic.

In his daily Covid-19 briefing today, he spoke on how the virus was brought to the state, sparking the chain of infection.

Of the 544 positive cases reported in the state, 21 of them were imported – 10 from Indonesia, four from the United Kingdom, and one case each from the Netherlands, Italy, Saudi Arabia, Russia, United States, Singapore and Brunei.

Uggah said 49 cases were imported from other states in the peninsula, with the Sri Petaling tabligh cluster spawning another 39 cases and the Kuching conference cluster 68 cases.

He said the infection then spread to areas outside Kuching, with cases detected in Samarahan, Serian, Miri, Sri Aman and Bintulu.

“The above pattern has to stop. Hence, the public are advised to avoid interstate or inter-district movements to prevent the transmission of this disease into Sarawak, especially the rural areas,” he said.

On the reopening of churches, temples and other non-Muslim houses of worship, Uggah said the Unit for other Religion, which he oversees, and the heads of the various religious denominations, are still in discussions to draw up a post-Covid-19 standard operating procedure.

In the meantime, churches in the state will continue to live-stream their respective services either via Facebook or YouTube. – May 19, 2020.