Uggah: ACD operation in Taman Uni Garden, Taman Desa Ilmu not meant to be EMCO

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The Active Case Detection (ACD) operation which is currently being carried out in Taman Uni Garden and Taman Desa Ilmu in Kota Samarahan is not meant to be Enhanced Movement Control Order (EMCO), said Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas. – Photo by Chimon Upon

KUCHING: The Active Case Detection (ACD) operation which is currently being carried out in Taman Uni Garden and Taman Desa Ilmu in Kota Samarahan is not meant to be Enhanced Movement Control Order (EMCO), said Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas.

He said residents can still shop for essential supplies at shops within the ACD areas, as the Sarawak Disaster Management Committee (SDMC) has taken that into account before conducting the operation.

“We have taken all this into consideration because good food is important to good health, but the operation has to be carried out so that we don’t have to enforce EMCO.

“We feel that the ACD and restriction of movement is necessary to minimise the number of people coming in and out of the two areas (under ACD), and there are shops and supermarkets in those areas.

“We will keep close attention to the food supply issue. No operations should be launched if they stop the food supply from reaching the people,” said Uggah after chairing the daily Covid-19 SDMC meeting today.

He was responding to concerns that were raised by several residents who feared they might be facing problem in getting essential supplies since the that access roads into their housing area in Taman Uni Garden and Taman Desa Ilmu in Kota Samarahan have been closed for the ACD operation.

Yesterday, Minister of Health Datuk Seri Dr Adham Baba announced that the ACD operation would be carried out at Taman Uni Garden and Taman Desa Ilmu in Kota Samarahan from April 27 till April 30.

Uggah explained that the two housing areas had been chosen because 20 positive cases that had been reported, involving two deaths, had originated from the two areas within 14 days.

“This means the virus is still spreading in these two areas,” he said.

Because of that, the Health Department has to take a more aggressive measure to actively detect the cases in these two housing areas to eventually break the chain, he added.

Uggah said the operation involves a total of 5,300 homes in the two areas, and are manned by 120 personnel from the police, the Health Department, the Civil Defence and Rela.