KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 12 ― Some 50 families have mysteriously disappeared from their homes in Taman Sri Bayu, Tumpat in Kelantan, after the neighbourhood was placed under the enhanced movement control order (EMCO).

The disappearance was discovered yesterday when only 401 families turned up to receive their food baskets, Utusan Malaysia reported today.

According to the Malay daily, a preliminary count for the purposes of distributing food baskets had earlier identified 450 families living in the neighbourhood, which amount to just over 2,000 residents.

“The total of 450 was based on an early count, yet today there is an excess of food baskets. So we will keep the excess for now,” Kelaboran assemblyman Mohd Adanan Hassan, who was present to distribute the food baskets in Taman Sri Bayu, was quoted as saying yesterday.

The state lawmaker said he had requested 450 food baskets from the Social Welfare Department for residents facing the EMCO.

The EMCO in Taman Sri Bayu was announced by the government two days ago, and is set to continue until August 24.

Utusan Malaysia reported that a large number of the residents in Taman Sri Bayu comprise Covid-19 “frontline workers” such as policemen, army officers and nurses without providing a detailed breakdown.

The report also cited a policeman Muhamad Rizalman Hassan, 30, claiming that the Covid-19 cluster in the neighbourhood was initiated by a couple who worked in a different district.