Smoking ban remains

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KUCHING: Smoking ban at eateries is still in place, said Deputy Chief Minister Datuk Amar Douglas Uggah Embas.

“It does not mean that (eateries) can do away with all the other regulations while they observe social distancing and personal hygiene. Other regulations are still in place, including the smoking ban” he said at the Sarawak Disaster Management Committee (SDMC) Covid-19 press conference at the old State Legislative Assembly (DUN) building today.

He was commenting on complaints by netizens that coffeeshops, while following the standard operating procedure (SOP) during the conditional movement control order (CMCO), were not following the no-smoking rule.

He said action would be taken against any offender, adding that authorities were monitoring the situation.

On another matter, he said that 38 individuals had been compounded today for trying to cross districts without a police permit, bringing the total to 86 compounded since May 19.

Uggah, who is also SDMC chairman, said that the Immigration Department had today reported 396 detainees at two immigration depots (246 at Bekenu Depot and 150 at Semuja Depot).

“Of these 369 detainees, 315 are ready to be sent back to their respective countries and 54 are still awaiting trial,” he said, adding that the Immigration Department would continue to observe SOP to ensure that all detainees were safe.

He informed that as of today, the Local Government and Housing Ministry had issued 286 verbal warning notices to business owners who had violated the SOP.

Meanwhile, he said that today a total of 3,454 applications for inter-district movement were received at 28 police headquarters throughout Sarawak, bringing the cumulative total to 69,968 applications.

“Of this total, 64,101 have been approved while 5,867 were rejected,” he stated.

Uggah said that 1,820 locations had been monitored by surveillance teams, including supermarkets (279), restaurants (330), factories (18), banks (130), government offices (70), hawkers (170), public markets (98), places of worship (111), recreational places (62), construction sites (22), and others (530).