Five districts in Kedah placed under MCO from May 1-14 - Ismail Sabri

KUALA LUMPUR: The government has decided to enforce the Movement Control Order (MCO) in five districts in Kedah for two weeks, effective tomorrow.

Senior Minister (Security) Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob said the MCO would be implemented in Kota Setar, Kuala Muda, Bandar Baharu, Baling and Kulim due to rising infectivity involving several clusters, which have contributed to a spike in COVID-19 cases in the five districts.

“During the 14-day period until April 29, the Ministry of Health (MOH) confirmed that a total of 709 active cases were recorded in the five districts.

“The MCO is aimed at curbing the spread of the virus from high-risk areas to other areas considering the rising infectivity rate as well as capacity of public healthcare, laboratories and hospitals in Kedah,” he said in a statement today.

Meanwhile, he said the government had also decided to implement the Enhanced MCO (EMCO) in Kampung Skim Cocos and Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan (SMK) Madai in Kunak, Sabah as well as Kampung Sagah, Jalan Sungai Tengah Matang in Kuching, Sarawak from tomorrow until May 14.

He said the decision to enforce the EMCO in these three areas came after the MOH confirmed a spike in COVID-19 cases in the past week as well as due to the high infectivity rate.

Meanwhile, Ismail Sabri said the EMCO at Sekolah Menengah Sains Machang, Kelantan, which was supposed to end tomorrow, had been extended until May 14 due to new cases being recorded and the high infectivity rate there.

"The MOH has carried out 596 screenings, of which 67 returned positive for COVID-19 while 356 samples are still awaiting results,” he said.

He also announced that the EMCO in two localities in Sarawak, involving Taman Mesra Bako, Kuching and Kampung Tengah, Betong as well as three housing estates in Tawau, Sabah, namely Taman Hilltop, Taman Bukit Bintang and Taman Berkley, will end tomorrow as scheduled.

He said there had been a drop in cases in all the localities and the clusters were under control, while all the positive cases had been isolated and admitted to quarantine centres.

Ismail Sabri also said that 420 individuals were arrested for flouting the standard operating procedure (SOP) yesterday, with 417 of them compounded and three remanded.

He said that under Ops Benteng, nine illegal immigrants were arrested while four land vehicles were seized yesterday.

-- BERNAMA