KOTA KINABALU, March 17 — Sabah has allowed buffets at all hotels and accommodations with in-house restaurants during the Recovery Movement Control Order (RMCO) period with strict adherence to the standard operating procedure (SOP).

State Housing and Local Government Minister, Datuk Seri Masidi Manjun said the SOP included recording the presence of customers through the MySejahtera application, Sabah Trace or a notebook, besides getting customers to scan their body temperature and use a face mask while taking food.

"Every hotel and restaurant is to provide plastic gloves or sanitisers for customers after using the serving spoons in turn. While queuing at the counter, all customers must comply with physical distancing,” he said in a statement, here, tonight.

Masidi said restaurants and cafes within the premises were also allowed to operate for full services including room service and deliveries, besides receiving guests in groups but practising physical distancing, subject to the restaurant’s capacity.

Dining could be periodically or according to a schedule to avoid congestion, he added.

Meanwhile, Masidi, who is also the state government’s spokesman for Covid-19, said 31 new Covid-19 positive cases were reported today, bringing the cumulative number in Sabah to 54,001, with two deaths, one each in Kinabatangan and Sandakan.

A total of 81 Covid-19 patients have recovered and discharged from hospital, bringing the cumulative number of such patients in the state to 53,146, he said.

On the Sabah-level National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme developments, Masidi said 3,168 individuals received the first dose of the vaccine today, bringing the cumulative number of recipients of the first shot to 35,537. — Bernama