PETALING JAYA: Residents of Mentari Court Apartment were in a celebratory mood last night, after the Enhanced Movement Control Order (EMCO) at the apartment came to an end at the stroke of midnight.
After 12 days of staying home, residents here regained their "freedom" and were seen celebrating with loud cheers, music and firecrackers.
Many were seen holding out their mobile phones with flashing lights supposedly as a sign and gesture to thank the tireless frontliners who were on duty throughout the EMCO.
On July 1, the apartment was ordered to be placed under the EMCO for two weeks. The whole area had been cordoned off using barbed wires and there was tight security around the clock, after a sudden surge in Covid-19 cases in the vicinity towards the end of June.
No one was allowed in or out of the EMCO area since. The EMCO was scheduled to end on July 14 but due to good cooperation from the residents, the government agreed to end it two days earlier, last night.
Petaling District Disaster Management Committee chairman Johary Anuar said the EMCO had been effective in curbing the spread of the virus, as 419 residents from the apartment tested positive for Covid-19 during this period.
He said the residents at the apartment were all screened for the virus and most of them had also received their first vaccine dose in the last 10 days.
"In these 12 days, a total 5,797 individuals were screened using the Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) test and 419 were positive. Of those who were positive, only 68 needed hospital care, while the rest were mostly category three and below cases that were manageable at home," he said.
He added that a temporary medical facility had also been set up in the compound to treat residents with other health problems.
Johary said at least 395 non Covid-19 cases were given treatment by health officers and volunteers.
"We also managed to administer the first dose to 65 percent of the residents or 6,178 individuals living in this locality," he said adding that so far 76 have already received both doses.
Mentari Court Apartment's JMB chairman Muhamad Khairul Nizat Abu Bakar said the residents were happy the EMCO finally came to an end, two days earlier than scheduled.
"At first when I heard they were going to enforce EMCO at Mentari Court, I was quite worried because we did not know how to make the residents understand and comply with the stay at home order.
"But with the help of the authorities, health ministry, state government, welfare department, various NGOs, volunteers, head of each block and the residents' cooperation, we successfully survived the 12-day lockdown.
"We also managed to screen and inoculate more than half of the residents here and isolate those who tested positive for the virus. We are very thankful to all the frontliners and all the generosity showered on us, throughout the period," he said.
Also present at the apartment last night was Petaling Jaya district police chief, Assistant Commissioner Mohamad Fakhruddin Abdul Hamid.