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Kota Kinabalu: Plans by several Sabah businessmen and investors to expand operations and open partnerships with their counterparts in neighbouring Zamboanga City have been shelved due to a spike in Covid-19 cases there.

 “At the moment, many of our members and other Malaysian businessmen and investors decided to ‘KIV’ (keep in view) our plan to visit Zamboanga City,” BIMP-EAGA Business Council (BEBC) Sabah Deputy Chairman Datuk James Lim (pic) said.

He said BEBC is monitoring the Covid-19 situation in the Philippines, particularly Zamboanga City and the three neighbouring provinces of Basilan, Sulu, and Tawi-Tawi.

“I was informed that Zamboanga City is now experiencing a spike in cases and city officials fear more cases in the coming days,” the BEBC Kudat Chairman said.

President Rodrigo Duterte approved the request for Zamboanga City to remain under Enhance Community Quarantine (ECQ). Malaysian businessmen and investors comprising mostly BIMP-EAGA Business Council (BEBC) members from Sabah were supposed to participate in the March 31 Zamboanga-Kota Kinabalu-Zamboanga inaugural direct flight organised by Philippine Airlines.

However, this was put on hold due to the travel ban imposed by Philippines and Malaysia following the Covid-19 outbreak.

 James said many members were disappointed on the flight cancellation but are still hopeful that air connectivity between Zamboanga and Kota Kinabalu would become reality soon.

Meanwhile, IATF chief implementor Secretary Carlito Galvez Jr described the surge of new cases in the city’s jail as “very alarming.”

The official cited geography as reason for the lockdown since  Zamboanga City is the “centerpoint” of the Zamboanga peninsula.

Covid-19 cases in the city also continue to increase daily which is a “red flag”, Galvez said.

“With this we decided to have the initial ramping up of testing capacity and brought with us 1,100 of gene experts,” Galvez said.

The gene experts will help increase the city’s testing capacity without sending its specimens to Research Institute for Tropical Medicine in Manila and Southern Philippine Medical Center in Davao City.

Galvez said the Philippines will increase its testing capacity to 30,000 per day by the end of this month.