SABAH TODAY

LABUAN: The 100 hawkers at the five Ramadan bazaars on this island are embracing the new norms of doing business in compliance with the COVID-19 standard operating procedure (SOP).

All of them had tested negative for COVID-19 before they were allowed to run the food and beverage stalls at the gazetted bazaar sites, namely, the Medan Selera parking lot downtown, Anjung Selera Tunjong, Kompleks Ujana Kewangan, Anjung Ikan Bakar Kg Lubok Temiang and Anjung Selera Manikar Kg Batu Manikar.

Labuan Corporation chief executive officer, Dr Fary Akmal Osman said continuous monitoring by its Enforcement Department’s personnel would be done from time to time to ensure the bazaar hawkers and visitors adapt to the new normal of conducting business.

“We are trying to assist the local hawkers cope with the current business climate as they have been badly hit by the movement restriction.

“However, despite having approval from the Ministry of Federal Territories for this year’s bazaar operations, we must not compromise on the SOP or the bazaars will be closed,” she told reporters after visiting the Medan Selera bazaar here on Tuesday.

However, in Sabah, the state government has decided to ban Ramadan bazaars this year based on the fact that the COVID-19 situation in Sabah is still unstable.

The emergence of new clusters in Sabah were triggered by social gatherings and events, as well as low level of compliance with the SOP.