The Malaysian Insight

BESUT in Terengganu, a town bordering Kelantan, has seen a 835% surge in Covid-19 cases in less than two months, according to local authorities.

District officer Ahmad Farhan Abdul Wahab said the surge was due to interstate crossing from Kelantan, which is a virus hotspot.

He told The Malaysian Insight that interstate movements were difficult to regulate as many Kelantanese entered Besut on a daily basis, including government officers.

“We are bordering Kelantan which is recording between 300 and 400 new Covid-19 cases daily,” he said.

“Kelantan folks have been coming into Besut under the pretext of work or visiting family.

“And it is difficult to control the entry and exit activities given that a majority of them are government officers who live in Kelantan but working in Besut,” he said.

The Besut disaster management committee chairman said the number of government officials from Kelantan who were working in Besut was quite significant, although he could not provide the exact estimates.

District police chief Abdul Rozak Muhammad said on May 6 that more than 400 teachers who live in Kelantan have been travelling on a daily basis between the two states.

He said the coastal roads along Pachakan, Telaga Papan and Gong Manak near Kuala Besut have become an illegal route for interstate crossing.

“Earlier (in April), there were 16 illegal routes but now we have discovered as many as 30 along the Besut-Pasir Puteh, Kelantan border,” he said.

He said the small routes were used to cross the state border after the reinforcement of the movement-control order (MCO) in Kelantan.

“There were many Kelantanese wanting to enter Besut during the enhanced (EMCO) here and when the MCO was enforced in Kelantan, including drug dealers who wanted to supply their stash.

“That is what we have discovered,” he said, adding that he was hopeful that the ongoing nationwide MCO will reduce the spike in Covid-19 cases in the district.

The MCO was initially enforced in seven districts in Kelantan between April 16 and 29 after more than 200 cases were recorded in a single day.

The National Security Council announced on April 14 that a statewide MCO will be enforced in Kelantan.

It was then extended to May 17 and subsequently until June 7, when the MCO was expanded nationwide a day before.

State health director Nor Azimi Yunus, meanwhile, was reported as saying that only 60 cases were recorded in March, but the infections increased exponentially to 561 between April and May.

“In the period between April 1 and May 8, we had conducted 9,936 tests and from that 662 positive cases were detected,” he said.

The number of Covid-19 fatalities has also increased to 11, with a 63-year-old woman from Gertak Seratus being the latest person to succumb to Covid-19.

Nor Azimi added that about 45 new cases are recorded in Besut everyday as there are currently eight active clusters in the district. 

The D’Lahad and Tok Has clusters contributed most of the positive cases.

In line with measures to control the spike in Kelantan, movement curbs were also tightened in Besut between May 7 and 20.

On April 6, the EMCO was enforced after the Belaoh cluster was detected.

The EMCO was enforced in three localities – Kg Belaoh, Kg PPRT Belaoh Baru and Kg Keruak in Hulu Besut.

The clusters, which stemmed from community transmissions, have spread to as far as Marang in Terengganu and Bachok in Kelantan. – May 16, 2021.