PETALING JAYA: The Selangor state government aims to vaccinate about 8,000 residents of Mentari Court which is placed under the Enhanced Movement Control Order (EMCO) this week.

Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Amirudin Shari said the vaccination process had started today and was expected to complete by Friday.

He said there are nearly 9,000 residents living in Mentari Court comprising 7,200 citizens and 1,750 foreigners, not 17,000 people as initially estimated.

"More than 5,000 of them have undergone COVID-19 screenings (swab test) and we only need to screen 1,500 people because so far, the positive rate for COVID-19 tests here is over seven per cent.

"If the rate increases it is likely that we will see about 400 to 500 positive cases here. So far, 120 people have been confirmed positive and we are still waiting for more results," he said after visiting the residential area today.

Amirudin said the EMCO in the area was managed slightly differently from other EMCO areas as it not only focuses on COVID-19 screenings and containment activities but also includes other elements such as administering vaccines to the residents, setting up a COVID-19 assessment centre and temporary quarantine and treatment centre.

"We think this module (addition of other elements) is quite sustainable for us to carry out in larger EMCO areas, so we will apply it at other EMCO localities including Taman Murni, Sepang," he said.

In another development, Amirudin said the state government had increased the number of vaccinations given to its people to achieve the target of 135,000 doses per day as set by the COVID-19 National Immunisation Programme Coordinating Minister Khairy Jamaluddin.

"As of last week, we have increased the number of doses to 53,000 per day and with the Selangor Vaccine Programme (SelVAX) and so on, I believe we can increase the number to 135,000 per day this month," he said.

-- BERNAMA