Vista Minintod Residents’ Association chairman Zainuddin Mohammad Ibrahim said most of the people staying at the 1,165 apartment units there were daily income earners.

They are either working as Grab drivers, musicians, supermarket staff or hair salon workers, among others.

He said the EMCO meant these people would lose their source of income for two weeks.

“Besides that, there are also single mothers or fathers, physically challenged residents and senior citizens,” he said in a statement here today.

“As such, we hope the authorities will channel food aid to residents ‘locked down’ here … such help will lessen the burden on them.”

Kepayan assemblyman Jannie Lasimbang said her office will allocate RM5,000 to buy additional items under the Kepayan Food Bank programme.

She said they would work with a non-governmental organisation to collect donations from organisations and the public.

“The Kepayan assemblyman’s office plans to deliver 1,000 food packs to the affected residents through the Penampang disaster control operations centre (PKOB) as soon as possible.

“Last week, we worked with the Kota Kinabalu City Hall to provide assistance to residents at Kepayan Rumah Murah here which was also put under EMCO.

“I urge the authorities to carry out swab tests on the Vista Minintod residents as quickly as possible to help efforts to curb further spreading of the virus there,” she said.

Meanwhile, Penampang assistant district officer Stanley Sikolis said food assistance from the government was being prepared.

Besides the help from the Kepayan assemblyman’s office, he also welcomed others to chip in.

He said any assistance must be channelled through the Penampang PKOB so the distribution can be done in a proper manner.