Sabah ready to reopen Mt Kinabalu for climbing activities from Dec 7 Masidi

For a start, he said, the number of hikers would be limited to 50 per cent of the capacity before the Movement Control Order (MCO) was enforced.

“The state government, through TTS, is getting ready to reopen the gates of the agency-operated parks in stages to local visitors with strict implementation of the standard operating procedure (SOP) starting Dec 7, including Mount Kinabalu climbing activities.

“The TTS is in the process of determining the SOP to be adopted when climbing activities are officially permitted,” he said at the daily COVID-19 press conference here yesterday.

On the implementation of the Conditional Movement Control Order (CMCO), Masidi said the state government was reviewing various aspects, including economic factors and the current COVID-19 situation in Sabah, to decide whether or not to extend the CMCO, which is scheduled to end on Dec 6.

“The Ministry of Health (MOH), through the Sabah State Health Department (JKNS), will assess and analyse the current COVID-19 situation in Sabah as well as give advice regarding the matter to the state government.

“The decision to extend, end the CMCO or implement any other type of control, will take into account the interests of all sectors, subject to the advice of the MOH and the National Security Council (MKN),” he said, adding that the Sabah government had so far distributed 264,031 food baskets to targeted groups in all the districts.

Meanwhile, state Community Development and People’s Wellbeing Minister Ir Shahelmey Yahya, in a separate statement, said a total of 3,151 food baskets were today distributed to 19 districts.