Businesses in Sarawak can now operate between 7am and 10pm

KUCHING: Businesses in Sarawak can now open between 7am and 10pm during the conditional movement control order (MCO) period, says Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah.

The Deputy Chief Minister said the new opening hours were standardised across the economic sectors that were allowed to reopen from Tuesday (May 12) to prevent confusion.

The standard operating procedures (SOPs) issued earlier by the Sarawak disaster management committee had specified different opening hours for different sectors.

Before this, the opening hours in Sarawak were from 7am to 7pm for essential businesses and services.

"Today, we decided that the opening hours will be 7am to 10pm. Businesses can adjust according to their usual opening hours.

"For example, some businesses normally open from 8am to 5pm, so it's up to them to maintain those hours.

"But the earliest they can open is 7am and the latest closing time is 10pm," Uggah said at the state disaster management committee's daily Covid-19 briefing here on Tuesday.

He urged businesses which had decided to resume operations to familiarise themselves with the SOPs and comply with them.

"This is important because we want to make sure that health is not neglected when the economy reopens.

"For this reason, social distancing and personal hygiene must be observed," he said.

Uggah also announced that Sarawak recorded no new positive Covid-19 cases for the second consecutive day.

He said six more patients had recovered, with four discharged from the Sarawak General Hospital here and one each from Sibu and Miri hospitals.

To prevent a second wave of Covid-19 in the state, Uggah said all Sarawakians returning from outside the state would be required to undergo home quarantine for 14 days.

They would be issued a digital wristband for monitoring purposes, he said.

Local Government and Housing Minister Datuk Seri Dr Sim Kui Hian said the wristband would be gazetted along with the extension of the conditional MCO to June 9 in the state.

"That means if you tamper with the wristband, if you cut it and go out, you'll be breaking the law," he said, adding that this would help ensure compliance with the home quarantine order.