PENAMPANG: Eateries here are sticking to previous standard operating procedures (SOP) as there has been no announcement by the authorities on new guidelines for them.
Sabah Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor had yesterday announced the state would allow dine-ins, roadside stalls, hair salons, golfing, fishing and cycling starting today.
However, at press time, there are no new SOP issued to the public nor justification on Sabah relaxing the rules sectors despite the state earlier agreeing to follow Phase 1 of the National Recovery Plan (NRP).
Yesterday, Sabah recorded 258 Covid-19 cases and the authorities also announced another six localities to be placed under the Enhanced Movement Control Order starting tomorrow.
A restaurant owner, Jollysius George said when the announcement was made, he did wait for further SOP to be announced.
"I double checked with the state National Security Council about the announcement (in the form of statement) and confirmed we can allow people to dine in.
"As there are no latest guidelines, the restaurant just uses the previous SOP which include the spacing of tables," he said, adding their operation hours are from 7am until 5pm.
For another 24-hour restaurant worker, who wants to be known as Abbas, he said they are operating from 6am until 10pm.
"Yes, people can dine here until we close for the day. It has been more than a month with no dine-ins, and business was not so good."
It is the same for Franky Koh Chern Fui who is using the previous SOP as his salon business resumes today.
"For now, we just follow the previous SOP such as only offering haircuts, and each session will take less than 30 minutes.
"Apart from that, we encourage our customers to book an appointment to ensure there are only a maximum four clients at a time."