A supermarket in Labuan has put up a notice informing customers of the purchase limit of cooking oil, rice, sugar, flour and bread.
KOTA KINABALU: The vaccination process for Labuan needs to be expedited following the recent high number of Covid-19 cases on the island, said its Member of Parliament Datuk Rozman Isli.
The Labuan Health Department has applied for the delivery of vaccines to Labuan be expedited and he had personally contacted Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Khairy Jamaluddin and Federal Territories Minister Tan Sri Annuar Musa about the matter.
“Khairy informed me that 100,000 doses of vaccine be sent to Labuan, starting with 30,000 doses this week.
He also said that a task force will also be deployed to Labuan to assist the team there in the vaccination program so that it can be implemented as soon as possible,” he said.
Rozman in a statement on Monday also expressed his worry about the shortage of necessities in Labuan because of the strict cross border travel.
“Most of the necessities come from Sabah and the strict restrictions on inter-state travel has an impact on the supply situation. The situation was made worse when the people here started panic buying because of the targeted lockdown in eight localities on the island,” said Rozman.
The panic buying can also cause huge crowds at supermarkets and this is a cause of concern about the possibility of new infections and a spike in Covid-19 cases when the number of cases has been on the decrease recently, he said.
In view of this, he urged the relevant authorities to monitor the situation in Labuan, including the possibility of business operators increasing the prices of goods.
“I also appeal to all in Labuan to take serious precautionary measures to protect themselves and their family. All Standard Operating Proceedures (SOP) implemented must be adhered too as it keeps us safe and helps to flatten the curve as well as stop the chain of infection,” Rozman added.
Most sundry shops in the outskirts of Labuan town re running out of stock of essential goods due to panic buying ahead of the total lockdown in some parts of Labuan beginning today.
The island’s People’s Representative Council chairman, Mohd Dzulfaizal Abd Manan said with the temporary closure of many supermarkets and hypermarkets (for Covid-19 sanitisation work), consumers were left with no choice but to make a beeline at all sundry shops in their respective villages and residential areas, resulting in the retailers facing a low-stock situation.
“The ongoing stricter Sabah-Labuan-Sabah travel constraints, including requiring goods transporters to have the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test before entering Labuan, have also contributed to the low stock of essentials here,” he told Bernama on Sunday.