KUALA LUMPUR: Senior Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob today said the government has not decided if an enhanced movement control order (EMCO) should be imposed in Tawau and Lahad Datu.

In a press conference today, Ismail pointed out that there are 511,000 and 266,000 residents in Tawau and Lahad Datu, respectively.

“EMCO will affect a very large group of people therefore, the government has not made any decisions yet.

“At the moment, the situation is still under control,” he said.Ismail said up till yesterday, the Health Ministry had conducted Covid-19 screening on 3,981 individuals in Tawau and also tested 1,421 people from Lahad Datu.

“From the 331 positive cases, 305 are prisoners, while 86 out of the 89 positive cases in Lahad Datu are detainees from a lock-up. This shows that the spread of Covid-19 is still under control,” he said.

Ismail said authorities will be conducting mass Covid-19 screening on 25,000 individuals in Tawau and 13,000 individuals in Lahad Datu to contain the spread of the virus.

He also said that the Health Ministry has identified prison blocks and community halls as special quarantine centres for people-under-surveillance (PUS) in Tawau and Lahad Datu.

“The National Security Council has identified several locations that will be used as a quarantine centre similar to the Covid-19 Low-Risk Patient Quarantine and Treatment Centre at the Malaysia Agro Exposition Park Serdang (Maeps) in Serdang.

“Among the locations are one block of Tawau prison and a community hall in Lahad Datu,” he said.

Ismail also urged the public not to panic following rumours that both Tawau and Lahad Datu were under lockdown due to Covid-19.

For the time being, he advised the public to avoid crowded public places and practice social distancing and to always use face masks.