KUCHING, March 29 — Sarawak Disaster Management Committee (SDMC) today banned inter-district travel as seven districts have been declared as red zones and another six others as yellow zones, in a move to further strengthen measures to curb the spread of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) in the state.

Its chairman Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah said anyone with valid reasons who want to travel from one district to another must obtain permits from the district offices.

He said only those with emergency cases will be allowed to travel between one district to another.

“The districts which have been declared as red zones are Kuching (with 69 positive cases), Samarahan (16), Betong (8), Sarikei (6), Bintulu (5), Miri (9) and Limbang (6),” he told reporters after chairing the SDMC meeting here.

Uggah, who is also the deputy chief minister, said the districts which have been declared yellow zones are Serian (3), Sibu (3), Mukah (1), Matu (1), Lawas (1) and Simunjan (1).

He said 11 positive cases are reported today, consisting of six males and five females.

“All these patients have been admitted to the Sarawak General Hospital (SGH),” he said.

On persons-under-investigation (PUI) cases, he said 49 are reported today, with 34 reported at SGH, nine in Betong, three in Bintulu, two in Miri and one in Sibu hospitals.

“From 11 January till today, we have a cumulative total of 1,126 PUI cases consisting of 1,080 Malaysians, 25 Chinese citizens, 13 Indonesians, two Vietnamese, two Pakistanis and one Thai, Canadian, Australian and Japanese nationals.

“From these 1,126 cases, 129 are confirmed as positive, 915 negative and 32 awaiting laboratory test results,” he said, adding that nine patients have been discharged while others have died.

Uggah also warned the people not to breach the movement control order (MCO) as the police will not hesitate to arrest them.

From March 25 to today, the police have arrested a total of 162 people who flouted the MCO throughout the state.

He said eight of them have been charged in court and five of them have been sentenced to between two and four months’ imprisonment and three others were fined.

“The rest will be charged in court beginning tomorrow,” he said.