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KUCHING: Sarawak will allow the reopening of various economic activities on May 12 with strict compliance with standard operating procedures (SOP).
Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah said the SOP will be published in local newspapers for two days starting Sunday (May 10).
“We will also inform stakeholders about the SOP. They include a list of which activities can be reopened and which are prohibited.
“There will be SOPs for each category of economic activity allowed, including their opening hours,” he said at the daily briefing by state disaster management committee Covid-19 on Saturday (May 9).
Those who wanted to reopen their businesses only needed to notify their respective divisional disaster management committees, Uggah said, without asking for approval.
He said the committee made the decision to reopen economic activities after studying a report from the state Department of Health that listed six criteria for consideration.
The state’s director of health, Dr. Chin Zin Hing, said that among the criteria was that the spread of Covid-19 and the number of imported cases be under control, minimize the risk of an outbreak, implement preventive measures, educate the public to adapt to the new normal, and the situation will be within the state’s health capacity to manage.
As of now, he said, Sarawak’s weekly Covid-19 incidence rate was 1.38 per 100,000 population, similar to the national rate of 1.32.
Meanwhile, Uggah said the decision to reopen the economy did not mean that the state government was neglecting public health.
“Both health and financial aspects were taken into consideration in the interest of all.
“Therefore, we have developed a strict SOP to ensure that prevention measures are followed.”
“Enforcement agencies will monitor the situation to ensure compliance with the SOP and drastic measures will be taken against those who do not comply,” he said.
However, Uggah said the inter-district travel ban is still in effect.
He said the police would continue to block highways at the district limits, and those who needed to travel between districts still needed to apply for police permits.
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