Not enhanced MCO, clarifies Uggah
KUCHING: The four-day Active Case Detection (ACD) operations carried out in residential areas in Taman Uni Garden and Taman Desa Ilmu in Kota Samarahan until April 30 is not enhanced movement control order (EMCO).
Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas said it was not EMCO but to limit movement of people within the area and restrict outsiders from entering so that the ACD could be carried out smoothly.
“We have taken all this into consideration because food is equally important to health but operations has to be carried out, that is why we don’t enforce EMCO.
“We feel that the ACD and restriction of movement is necessary and we try to minimise people’s movement within the two areas and others from coming in,” he said in a press conference on the daily update on Covid-19 yesterday.
Uggah, who is also the state Disaster Management Committee (SDMC) chairman, when responding to a question on how residents could go out to buy food due to the ACD operation, he said there were shops and supermarkets within the two areas.
“We will keep close attention on the food supply issue because no operations should be launched if it stops food supply from reaching the people,” he said.
He added that the objective of this ACD was to prevent and monitor active cases in the areas, tracking close contacts of Covid-19 positive cases and conduct test screenings.
“These two areas were chosen because in the last 14 days, there have been 20 cases reported, involving two deaths.
“This indicates that the virus is still contagious in the area. Therefore, more aggressive strategies need to be adopted to cut the chain of infection more effectively,” he said.
On the operation, he said it involved a total of 5,300 homes in the two areas, and headed by Samarahan Resident and involved 120 personnel from the police, Health Department, Civil Defence and Rela.
