BUSINESSES that normally operate round the clock will have to comply with a curtailed 12-hour operation even after the conditional movement-control order (CMCO) is lifted in the Kuching district from midnight tonight.

Their operation hours have been extended by two hours from 6am to midnight. It was from 6am to 10pm during the 19 days of the CMCO.

As Kuching residents try to regain some normalcy to life, they will still have to stay dry as the state disaster management committee said under the recovery movement-control order, entertainment outlets like nightclubs, pubs and karaokes are still not allowed to open.

Reflexology centres are also still barred from reopening.

The committee said a decision on when they can reopen will be made at a later date.

The biggest joy however, is the lifting of travel curbs in and out of the Kuching district.

The 10 police roadblocks in and around the city have been dismantled in some places.

The travel curbs into the state nonetheless are still in place with the mandatory 14-day quarantine in a designated quarantine hotel and two rounds of Covid-19 tests.

The CMCO was imposed in the district on November 9 following a sharp spike in local transmissions.

It was to have ended last Sunday but a cautious committee temporarily headed by Deputy Chief Minister James Masing extended it for another five days to further evaluate the situation.

The committee’s chairman Deputy Chief Minister Douglas Uggah is on a month’s medical leave after undergoing a heart surgery.

Elsewhere, the committee said all 959 residents of Kg Banting in Lawas who were forced to take the Covid-19 test were negative for the virus.

Authorities mounted an active case detection exercise on November 13 after a villager who had returned from Sabah on November 7 was found positive for the virus.

There was a delay in announcing the results as the test samples had to be first flown by helicopter to the Miri Hospital.

From there samples were then sent to the Sarawak General Hospital in Kuching and the Sarawak heart centre Covid-19-certified laboratories to speed up the testing process.

Sarawak reported no new cases today. – November 27, 2020.