COVID-19 | The Perak government plans to set up two Low-Risk Covid-19 Quarantine and Treatment Centres (PKRC) to reduce congestion in hospitals following the increase in Covid-19 positive cases in the state.

Menteri Besar Ahmad Faizal Azumu said the state government is awaiting approval from the National Security Council (NSC) before activating the treatment centres, which will be in Ipoh and the other in the southern part of the state.

He said the centres would be used to house low-risk Covid-19 patients who had no symptoms to undergo follow-up treatment.

“The PKRC have not been gazetted, but if the NSC approves, we are ready. The state government will provide the facilities at both treatment centres," he told a press conference after launching the “Projek Khas Tani Covid-19” in Ipoh today.

On the implementation of the enhanced movement control order (MCO) in Zone B and Zone C of Taman Meru 2C in Ipoh, beginning tomorrow until Dec 3, Ahmad Faizal said a one-stop centre was provided to make it easier for residents to get food supplies and daily necessities.

He said the state government, through the Tambun Parliamentary People's Service Centre and Kinta District Office, had provided various forms of assistance to the residents involved during the Covid-19 screening process in the area over the past few days.

Yesterday, Senior Minister (Security Cluster) Ismail Sabri Yaakob announced the implementation of the enhanced MCO in the two areas was made on the advice and risk assessment by the Ministry of Health following the increase in Covid-19 cases in the two localities.

Earlier, Ahmad Faizal, in his speech when launching the project, said a total of 318 farmers in the state who were affected by the Covid-19 pandemic will receive agricultural inputs from the state government, the latest by the end of next month.

He said the state government had allocated RM856,000 for the project, which would involve providing inputs such as fertilisers and pesticides for selected farmers to cultivate food crops such as vegetables, banana, papaya, corn and chilli.

Based on an unofficial data by the Perak Agriculture Department until last Oct 30, he said, there was a drop in agriculture production, with vegetable commodities recording only 61,051 tonnes compared to 117,003 tonnes last year, while for fruits, it was 61,209 tonnes, from 111,885 tonnes last year.

He attributed the drop in the production of the two commodities to the harvesting process and marketing problems, especially during the movement control order period.

- Bernama