Police personnel checking the entrance to a longhouse which has been sealed off.
SIBU (Jan 21): Thirteen longhouses in Kanowit have been placed under the 14-day lockdown to stem the spread of Covid-19, Kanowit police chief DSP Tega Bilong said as infections in the district continue to rise.
He told Utusan Borneo, The Borneo Post’s sister daily, that the lockdowns were implemented on the instruction of the Sibu disaster management committee and any movement in or out of the affected longhouses would be restricted.
The lockdown in Kanowit started with two longhouses on January 13 and on Wednesday, four more were included in the list.
The affected longhouses are Rumah Benjamin Angki, Rumah Jelani, Rumah Tibu, Rumah Maria (Bukong), Rumah Roma, Rumah Anthony Ikus, Rumah Dim, Rumah Engkulau, Rumah Katerina, Rumah Manggie, Rumah Samsudin, Rumah Lee Kok Sing and Rumah Bidin in Ulu Majau.
State disaster management committee (SDMC) chairman Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas also said that the lockdown was to enable active case detection (ACD) to be carried out.
“It is not an Enhanced Movement Control Order but a lockdown for ACD,” Uggah, who is a deputy chief minister, clarified when contacted.
In its update today, SDMC said Kanowit recorded 46 new cases for a total of 120 cases, including a fatality, over the last 14 days. Most of the cases were linked to the Pasai Cluster in Sibu, which was announced on January 8.
Kanowit yesterday became one of five Covid-19 red zones in the state.
Tega, meanwhile, urged residents in the affected longhouses to comply with the government’s Covid-19 standard operating procedures (SOP) and advised the local community leaders to help monitor the situation.
He also said the longhouse folk do not have to worry about food or medical supply as they would be supplied to them by the authorities.
“Movement in and out of the villages have been tightened. Two Rela personnel have been tasked to guard the entrance to each of the longhouses, and the police will frequently patrol the 13 longhouses,” he said, adding that no further warning would be given to those who flaunt the lockdown.
He also said that the police and the army have mounted road blocks at Maju and Durin-Kanowit bridges to check inter-district travel.