It’s good news for those who want to go to Sarawak after restrictions to travel to the Land of the Hornbills have now been lifted when the Recovery Movement Control Order (RMCO) was enforced on June 10.

Those from the peninsula, Sabah and Labuan are also no longer needed to get entry approval from the Sarawak Disaster Management Committee and can now enter the state without having to undergo the Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) test before leaving for Sarawak as required before.

Sarawakians living outside the state as well as tourists will definitely make full use of the relaxation granted to return to their hometown and visit places of interest in Sarawak since domestic tourism activities are now allowed to resume operations.

The relaxation announcement was made by Senior Minister (Security Cluster) Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob yesterday.

However, we should never take the relaxation given for granted and must continue to adhere to all standard operating procedures set by the Health Ministry to prevent the creation of new COVID-19 clusters.

Since June 12, there had been an increase in vehicles along major highways heading out of the capital city and the number is expected to rise today as people begin to return here from their hometowns.

It’s like celebrating the second phase of Hari Raya, those who were unable to return to their hometowns to celebrate the first day of Syawal there took the opportunity to ‘balik kampung’ now that interstate travels are permitted.

There are also some who decided to have a weekend getaway at interesting places in the country which also saw many hotels received encouraging room reservations.

For example, in Perak, the state had received 1,030 hotel bookings since the announcement of RMCO which also shows positive signs of tourism.

Whatever we are doing, always remember not to take safety aspect for granted as we still have not won the fight against COVID-19.

-- BERNAMA