KUALA LUMPUR, March 31 — Three areas in Tawau, Sabah will be placed under the enhanced movement control order (EMCO) from tomorrow until April 14 due to a sharp increase in cases in the locality, with high infectivity rates in the community.

Senior Minister (Security Cluster) Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob said that the areas involved were Kampung Ranggu Batu 10, Mukim Balung; Phase 2 Taman Semarak and Kampung Baru Pasir Putih, Mukim Sri Tanjung.

"Until yesterday, the Ministry of Health (MOH) has detected eight positive cases as a result of 59 screening tests conducted in Kampung Ranggu Batu 10, while in Phase 2 of Taman Semarak, six individuals were found positive as a result of 16 screening tests, with nine more screening samples still awaiting results.

"In Kampung Baru Pasir Putih, a total of eight positive cases were detected as a result of 89 screening tests; 75 more samples are still awaiting results,” he said in a statement on the implementation of conditional MCO  (CMCO) and recovery MCO (RMCO) today.

According to him, the implementation of the EMCO is to facilitate the MOH to carry out targeted screening on all residents, as well as to control the movement and spread of infection in the community. 

Meanwhile, the EMCO imposed at the YTY Factory and its workers’ hostel, in Lekir, Sitiawan, Perak, scheduled to end tomorrow, has been extended for another two weeks until April 15 due to the MOH detecting that Covid-19 cases were still spreading among hostel residents.

Ismail Sabri said the last seven cases were reported on March 28.

To date, he said that the MOH had carried out 1,174 screening tests, and out of that total 109 positive Covid-19 cases had been recorded.

Apart from that, the EMCO at Henry Gurney School, Telok Mas, Melaka, which is scheduled to end on Friday (April 2), has also been extended until April 16 after an increase in new cases in the locality.

He said that thus far a total of 1,277 screening tests had been conducted, and out of that 63 Covid-19 positive cases were detected and 101 remaining screening test samples were awaiting results.

Commenting on "Op Benteng”, Ismail Sabri said, yesterday that a total of 19 illegal immigrants were arrested, while two illegal immigrants were also deported from the country. — Bernama