KOTA KINABALU: A Sabah minister has hinted that there will be more relaxation to restrictions under the movement control order likely to be announced by Tuesday (Feb 9) ahead of the Chinese New Year.
Sabah Local Government and Housing Minister and state Covid-19 spokesman Datuk Masidi Manjun said the Federal Government was expected to make an announcement soon.
"I've just attended a National Security Council (NSC) meeting on Covid-19, I believe there will be good news. I don't want to say anything as it will be announced by the Federal Government," he told reporters at the state Covid-19 briefing on Monday (Feb 8).
"All I want to say is that as we celebrate Chinese New Year, we should do it responsibly. Enjoy but be responsible," he said.
It understood that some businesses including dine-ins currently are not allowed under the MCO.
"There will be a lot more announcements that will make people happy," Masidi said, hinting about the relaxations.
"With more new relaxations to come, I urge people to abide by SOPs," he added.
On the Covid-19 cases, Masidi said that Sabah's figures were stabilising over the last week.
"We have to maintain strict observation of SOPs and ensure that the efforts to bring down the cases continue," he said as Sabah recorded 169 cases on Monday.
Masidi also said there were no more backlog of Covid-19 test results pending.
As such, he said everyone was duty bound to be responsible in ensuring that Covid-19 cases continue to decline in the state by just following SOPs strictly.
Sabah, which was the epicentre of Malaysia's Covid-19 third wave following the Sept 26 state elections, had remained under the conditional MCO till December as the cases rose.
The situation slightly improved in late December but spiked again in January following the year-end holidays that saw the state put under MCO.
