TUARAN, Jan 26 — Village heads in Tuaran district are urging the authorities, especially police, to intensify patrolling in the villages to ensure the residents comply with the standard operating procedure (SOP) during the movement control order (MCO) period to curb the spread of Covid-19.

Kampung Pinagon Baru head, Martin Lotupas said the villagers’ adherence to the SOP had increasingly slackened due to less patrolling and monitoring by the authorities over time.

"If there is constant monitoring by police, for instance, there will be increased adherence to the SOP for fear of being fined for SOP violations,” he told Bernama, here, today.

Martin said there were still villagers gathering in groups even after being repeatedly advised against it by the village heads concerned as it could cause a Covid-19 outbreak.

Yesterday, 348 new cases of the viral infection were recorded in Sabah, bringing the cumulative number to 47,139 while the MCO, scheduled to end today, has been extended to February 4.

Meanwhile, Lokub village head, Unus Limus said more frequent patrolling by police was needed to curb social activities involving groups of people gathering in the villages.

"I have seen patrolling being conducted by the authorities such as police, but it should be more frequent for increased compliance with the SOP by residents.

"There have been new clusters reported at a number of villages in Sabah resulting from social activities and we don’t want this to happen in this district,” he said.

Kampung Pinahawon head, Misson Madamin said with police patrolling and monitoring, villagers, on their part, needed to cooperate by strictly following the MCO SOP set.

"Besides always reminding my village residents not to gather in big groups, I have placed a signboard informing outsiders that they cannot enter this village without any urgent purpose,” he added. — Bernama