KOTA KINABALU: The State government has decided to end the enhanced movement control order (EMCO) at Kampung Baru Pasir Putih in Tawau where a protest was held by the residents over its extension.
Some 350 people held a peaceful protest on Tuesday night against the extension of the EMCO at the village to May 12. It was originally scheduled to end today.
Local Government and Housing Minister Datuk Masidi Manjun said the decision to continue the EMCO was because there were 151 test samples still outstanding as of Tuesday.
“The results of the outstanding samples were known earlier today and all were negative. Hence, there is no need to extend the EMCO,” he said.
According to Masidi, in total, the Health Ministry conducted 847 swab tests at the village, of which 23 tested positive.
“In line with that, and based on the latest risk assessment by the health authorities, the state government agreed to end the EMCO at Kampung Baru Pasir Putih today, as initially scheduled by the federal government,” he said.
But at the same time, Masidi said the state government has instructed the Tawau disaster operations control centre to continue to monitor the situation at the locality.
On Tuesday, Tawau police chief Peter Umbuas said the villagers who gathered at the peaceful protest wanted either the EMCO to end sooner or for the conditions to be relaxed.
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