KUALA LUMPUR: More areas will be put under the Enhanced Movement Control Order (EMCO) to curb further spread of the Covid-19 virus, said Senior Minister (Security Cluster) Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob.
He said the Health Ministry was in the midst of identifying areas with high number of infections to be placed under EMCO.
This, he said, was important to ensure a more focused effort of enforcement at these high-risk areas while at the same time avoid large radius of EMCO coverage.
“For example, the last time when a village had been identified as Covid-19 red zone, we cordoned off an area of around six kilometres radius from the epicentre,” he said in a press conference.
Ismail was asked to comment on the high number of Covid-19 cases reported near Lembah Pantai, which covered areas such as Bangsar and Kampung Kerinchi.
As of Apr 5, it was the nation’s top red-zone for the third day running with cumulative tally of 376 Covid-19 cases.
“Lembah Pantai is a very dense area… if we imposed EMCO, it will mean total lockdown where people will not be allowed to go out.
“So we have to see first,” he said, adding that the Health Ministry would come up with a new standard operating procedure (SOP) on the new lockdown areas.
As of today, three areas has been placed under EMCO, they are; Batu 21 to Batu 24 in Sungai Lui, Selangor; residents of Menara One City here; and two areas in Johor - Kampung Datuk Ibrahim Majid and Bandar Baharu Datuk Ibrahim Majid in Simpang Renggam, Kluang.
Meanwhile, Ismail said the government would make an announcement soon on the predicament faced by Malaysian workers in Singapore after the republic tightened its measures to curb the spread of Covid-19.
“We have established a working committee between both countries which involved officers from Human Resources Ministry to negotiate new terms in our agreement.
“God willing, Wisma Putra will announce it tomorrow morning… but for now, I urged our countrymen there to stay put and do not cross the border.” he said.