KOTA KINABALU: Kampung Paginatan and Kampung Maringkan, Ranau are placed under Enhanced Movement Control Order (EMCO) starting today to January 11 next year.
Local Government and Housing Minister Datuk Seri Panglima Masidi Manjun said the Ministry of Health (MOH) had conducted 529 Covid-19 screenings in both localities and 89 positive cases were recorded.
“Upon the advice and risk assessment by MOH, the government today agreed to impose EMCO on Kg Paginatan and Kg Maringkan, Ranau starting December 29, 2020 to January 11, 2021.
“The imposition of the EMCO is to enable MOH to carry out targeted screenings on all residents in the two localities, which involved 865 people,” he said in a statement today.
Masidi, who is also Sabah’s official Covid-19 spokesperson, said the standard operating procedures (SOPs) for EMCO in both localities were the same as previous announcements, except for sundry shops within the ECMO area that were allowed to operate from 6am to 6pm.
Markets in EMCO areas are also permitted to operate twice weekly from 6am to 2pm, he said.
He added that a representative from each household would be allowed to exit the ECMO areas with permission from the police for cash withdrawal from automated teller machine (ATM) or bank and to purchase essential goods or non-food items.
Meanwhile, he said the ECMO enforced in Kg Dasar Baru and Kg Desa Bajau, Lahad Datu that began on December 2, which was subsequently extended, would end today as scheduled.
As of December 15, Masidi said the Health Ministry had conducted 2,174 screenings, of which 274 positive cases were recorded in both localities – 259 in Kg Desa Bajau and 15 in Kg Dasar Baru.
Nevertheless, he said the MOH confirmed that the remaining positive Covid-19 cases in both localities were showing a downward and controlled trend.
“Upon the advice of the MOH, the government agreed to end the EMCO imposed on Kg Dasar Baru and Kg Desa Bajau, Lahad Datu tomorrow (December 29) as scheduled.
On a separate matter, Masidi said the Conditional Movement Control Order (CMCO) in Sabah has been further extended from January 1 to 14, 2021 as the MOH had confirmed that the daily increase of new Covid-19 cases in the State was still high and on the rise.
On the other hand, he said Sabah registered 157 new positive cases yesterday, which brought the cumulative cases to 36,231.
One fatality was also reported in Kota Kinabalu, but no new cluster was recorded today.
Of the 157 new cases, he said 79 cases (50.3%) were detected through close contact screenings, 50 cases (31.8%) from symptomatic screenings, 17 cases (10.8%) from existing clusters and 11 cases (7%) from other categories.
Kota Kinabalu contributed 46 new cases today, followed by Penampang (28), Sandakan (19), Papar (19), Tawau (11), Putatan (9), Lahad Datu (9), Kota Belud (4), Semporna (3), Tuaran (2), Tenom (2), Sipitang (2) and one case each in Kalabakan, Beluran and Kinabatangan.
He added that Beluran had been reclassified from yellow zone to orange zone.
Masidi also said that the cumulative recoveries had increased to 34,038, with 248 Covid-10 patients recovered or discharged from hospitals today.
He said a total of 1,544 patients are still undergoing treatment, including 597 in hospitals and 947 in Covid-19 Low-Risk Quarantine and Treatment Centres (PKRC).
“The number of Covid-19 patients in intensive care unit is 56 and 15 require ventilation aids.”
The State Government has also distributed 304,633 food baskets to targeted groups so far.