LABUAN, April 13 — 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 today.
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.
In Labuan, meanwhile, the number of COVIC-19 cases have dropped to three over the last three consecutive days from two digits for more than a week previously.
Fary said the pandemic has caused drastic disruptions to people’s daily lives, businesses and the economy.
“The government and regulators are tasked with developing various measures to provide some security and to cushion the adverse impact on the people and businesses.
“Businesses have also been forced to implement workarounds and to innovate to ensure continuity and to identify enablers for their employees to continue working.
“The effects of the ongoing pandemic do not seem to be easing and during this period, pressing matters such as business continuity plans and managing the new day-to-day operations take precedence.
“Companies should take this opportunity to lay the groundwork for the future phases of remote working and incorporate it in their recovery plan as we move towards the future of work,” she added.
