KUALA LUMPUR: The government has decided to implement the Enhanced Movement Control Order (EMCO) in two villages in Sarawak, namely Kampung Binyu Baru, Samarahan, and Kampung Binyu Lama, Kuching, from tomorrow until April 17.

Senior Minister (Security Cluster) Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob said that the decision was made following a risk assessment with various agencies in the Movement Control Order (MCO) Technical Committee and based on advice from the Ministry of Health (MOH).

He said as of today (April 3), 11 people from Kampung Binyu Baru have been screened with four of them tested positive for COVID-19.

Ismail Sabri said the MOH also detected a sharp increase in cases with high infectivity rates in the community in Kampung Binyu Lama after 57 positive cases were recorded in the locality, as of April 1.

“The implementation of EMCO will facilitate MOH to carry out early detection of suspected COVID-19 cases so that they can be isolated as soon as possible and to contain the infection in the community,” he said in a statement on the implementation of Conditional MCO (CMCO) and Recovery MCO (RMCO), today.

Meanwhile, Ismail Sabri said six people were detained yesterday for violating the standard operating procedures (SOP), of which five were compounded and one remanded.

The offences were failure to record entry into premises using the MySejahtera application or manually (three), inter-district and interstate travels without permission (two) and not wearing face mask (1).

On Op Benteng, Ismail Sabri said one illegal immigrant and five smugglers were arrested while three land vehicles were seized.

He also said that 1,260 foreign workers underwent COVID-19 screening tests yesterday and six were found positive.

Cumulatively, 671,148 foreign workers involving 34,801 employers, have been screened, he added.

-- BERNAMA