300 moved to hotel after Semporna quarantine centre found lacking facilities

KOTA KINABALU: Some 300 people including children were moved to a hotel in Semporna after it was found that their quarantine centre at Bubul Ria PPR housing lacked proper facilities.

Chief Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Shafie Apdal ordered that they be shifted to a local hotel to complete their two-week quarantine after some of them complained of poor facilities with some forced to clean up the house after they were sent there.

Parti Warisan Sabah secretary Husman Mastal said on Tuesday (May 19) that Shafie made the order to shift the quarantined people to a better facility after he was informed of the conditions of the quarantine centre in Semporna.

He said among the 300 were 34 children and 13 babies. They were placed in the centre after they arrived in Tawau from Kuala Lumpur on May 15.

Quarantine centres in the state are under the management of the Health Ministry.

Husman said that they expect other people coming back to Semporna to be housed in another hotel.

On Monday (May 18), Sabah Umno chief Datuk Seri Bung Moktar Radin in a Facebook posting criticised the state government for failing to provide proper quarantine facilities in the state.

He accused the Warisan-led state government of failing to check out the facilities before putting people in for their two-week quarantine.

Sabah Health and People’s Well-being Minister Datuk Frankie Poon said that the 44 quarantine centres in the state were under the purview of the Health Ministry.