KOTA KINABALU: The roadblocks and road closures in Lahad Datu are standard operating procedures by the police.
Senior Minister (Security Cluster) Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob said the decision for the movement restriction was more towards the jurisdiction of the local security enforcement agencies.
He was responding to questions on the possibility of the government imposing stricter restrictions in the east coast of Sabah after Lahad Datu and Tawau were categorised as Covid-19 red zones.
Lahad Datu police chief Assistant Commissioner Nasri Mansor, in a statement yesterday, said they had closed three roads and set up four roadblocks to restrict people's movement following the widespread Covid-19 infection in the district lockup and among the community,
The Lahad Datu community is also prohibited to go to public parks for now and will be asked to return if they have no urgent matters in town.
"The Covid-19 control measures are now more targeted to localities with high number of cases.
"We will not close the whole state or the district, but will take necessary measures by closing identified villages if the situation gets worse," he said during a press conference prior to the Service Medal Awards presentation to 350 veteran soldiers here.
The east coast now has the Selamat, Pulau, Laut and Benteng Lahad Datu clusters with 340 Covid-19 patients in Tawau, 143 in Lahad Datu and 14 in Kunak still receiving treatment at the hospitals.
Meanwhile, Ismail Sabri said the government was capable of defending and securing the sovereignty of the state should there be any external threats.
He assured that there will be more assets and personnel added to improve the security system in Sabah particularly the east coast.
It included three vessels, with one at the Sepanggar naval base and another two deployed later for coastal security.
Other additional establishments were a brigade infantry, three infantry battalions, an armoured regiment, three artillery regiments as well as army aviation squadrons.
Ismail Sabri also said the border security would be enhanced by setting up another 19 on top of the existing 17 security posts.
As for the awards, Ismail said the personnel received a one-off RM500 each and the government was hopeful the cabinet would approve a monthly RM300 token for the retirees.
He added that the awards were planned earlier and not as an inducement in conjunction with the ongoing state polls.