Dine-ins to be allowed in Sarawak's southern regions next week

KUCHING: Eateries in Sarawak's southern zone will be allowed to resume dine-in operations starting next week subject to certain conditions.

The state disaster management committee said operators, employees and customers must be fully vaccinated against Covid-19 in order to dine in.

"It is also compulsory for the owners of the premises to ensure good ventilation based on the standards set by the committee," it said in a statement on Friday (Sept 17).

The committee also said operating hours in the southern zone would be extended by two hours from 5am to 10pm.

Individuals and groups were still not allowed to be out in public places after midnight without a reasonable excuse.

These decisions come into effect on Sept 20.

The southern zone, which covers Kuching, Bau, Lundu, Samarahan, Asajaya, Simunjan, Serian and Tebedu districts, were previously placed under stricter standard operating procedures (SOP) which included no dine-in and operating hours closing at 8pm until Sept 19.

The southern zone remains in Phase Two of the National Recovery Plan while the rest of Sarawak is in Phase Three.

The committee also said PCR or antigen rapid test kit (RTK) results were no longer required for inter-district travel in Sarawak effective Sept 18.

However, a police permit must still be obtained to travel across districts.

The committee's latest decisions come as Sarawak reported 3,480 new Covid-19 cases and three deaths on Friday.

This takes the state's cumulative tally to 174,152 cases with a death toll of 659.

Of the new cases, 3,472 or 99.8% were in Categories One (no symptoms) and Two (mild symptoms).

There was one case in Category Three (symptomatic with lung infection), two cases in Category Four (symptomatic and requiring oxygen) and five cases in Category Five (symptomatic and requiring ventilator).