force in response to the 2020 coronavirus pandemic in iran and italy, the state government has refused entry to all iranian and italian nationals and foreigners who have travelled to one of the countries. strongly advised brunei indonesia japan singapore in force visitors and malaysian that visited singapore, brunei, indonesia and japan must adhere to precautionary guidelines issued by the state health department at all entry points into sarawak. on 4 april, all sarawakians that returns from overseas must undergo a 14-days quarantine upon arrivals at quarantine centres arranged by state government for observation and supervision for covid-19 infection. on 5 april, state tourism, arts and culture minister datuk abdul karim rahman hamzah said all foreigners were now banned from transiting in sarawak, whether by air, sea or land. this decision comes into effect immediately. on 13 june, senior minister datuk seri ismail sabri yaakob announced that malaysians from peninsular malaysia, sabah, and labuan would be allowed to enter sarawak without having to seek permission from the sarawak disaster management committee (sdmc). on 1 july, deputy chief minister datuk amar douglas uggah announced that foreigners who had been staying continuously in malaysia for 30 days would be allowed to enter sarawak without having to undergo quarantine. however, they must get approval from sarawak disaster committee before entering sarawak. on 26 july, malaysians from peninsular malaysia, sabah and labuan are required to quarantine in designated hotel for 14 days upon arrival into sarawak effective on 1 august. on 2 august, no permission are required from police for outbound travel from sarawak to peninsular malaysia, sabah and labuan. on 28 august, sarawak disaster management committee announced all malaysian citizens (including sarawakians) who return from overseas need to undergo a mandatory quarantine of 14 days at selected quarantine station provided by the sarawak government. all malaysian citizens (including sarawakians) who enter sarawak from west malaysia, sabah and labuan are allowed in without having to undergo quarantine. however, they are required to fill in the e-health declaration form (e-hdf). covid-19 test will be done randomly on entries to sarawak via air, land and sea. all flight operations in-bound and out-bound to sarawak will resume operation as normal starting 1 september 2020. kids recreational centre located at shopping malls or closed-concept ones are allowed to resume operation starting 1 september 2020. on 18 september, sarawak disaster management committee (sdmc) announced that all malaysian and non-malaysian citizens entering from or through sabah will be required to undergo a covid-19 swab test (rt-pcr test) 3 days before travel and attach the document when filling the online entersarawak form, effective 21 september 2020. malaysian citizens that travel from penang will undergo random covid-19 test upon arrival, and sarawakians returning from overseas will be quarantined at first point of entry in sarawak and are not allowed to transit to their final destination. on 21 september, all non-malaysians that wish to enter sarawak through kuala lumpur international airport (klia) will be quarantined in kuala lumpur before entering sarawak. on 28 september, sarawak disaster management committee (sdmc) announced that all sarawakian entering from/through sabah or labuan are required to fill in the online entersarawak form before entering the state. they will undergo 14-days quarantine at home with a wristband given to them. for non-sarawakians (malaysian and non-malaysian), they are required to undergo covid-19 swab test 3 days before entering sarawak and attach the test document alongside the entersarawak form. they will be given a limited 5 days pass in sarawak and if they failed to attach their covid-19 test documents, they are not allowed to enter the state. all malaysians and non-malaysians are required to declare whether they have been to sabah or labuan in the past 14 days before entering sarawak. they are required to undergo 14-days quarantined at hotel or quarantine center upon arrival. on 1 october, sarawak disaster management committee (sdmc) announced that all malaysians and non-malaysians from sabah or labuan are not allowed to enter sarawak. sarawakians from sabah or labuan are allowed to enter sarawak with conditions that they are required to fill the entersarawak and e-health declaration form, and undergo mandatory 14-days quarantine at quarantine centers. these will be effective 4 october 2020. on 14 december, sarawak disaster management committee (sdmc) announced that sarawakians entering from overseas are required to undergo mandatory 10-days quarantine at quarantine centers while non-sarawakians are required to undergo rt-pcr test at their first point of entry 3 days prior to arrival to sarawak. malaysians and non-malaysians entering from peninsular malaysia will undergo mandatory 10-days quarantine at quarantine centres while to those entering from sabah and labuan are required to undergo rt-pcr test 3 days prior to their arrival to sarawak. these restrictions will be effective immediately. on 11 january, sarawak disaster management committee (sdmc) announced that all travellers entering sarawak will undergo mandatory quarantine for 14 days at quarantine centers. on 14 january, sarawak disaster management committee (sdmc) announced that all travellers travelling from peninsular malaysia, sabah and labuan are required to undergo covid-19 rt-pcr test 3 days (72 hours) prior to their arrival and must attach it together with their entersarawak form if their test are negative. prevention for immigration prohibition dated 1 february 2020 issued by the government of sarawak. on 29 january, all visitors entering sarawak are required to declare the status of their health as part of efforts to contain covid-19 infection in the state where they are required to fill in the health declaration form provided at all entry points in the state, including border checkpoints and onboard aircraft. the regulation also applies to visitors driving vehicles who arrive via ferry from labuan and flight passengers from mulu national park as there are direct flights from kota kinabalu to the location. on 21 march, sarawak chief minister datuk patinggi abang johari tun openg said all border posts in sarawak will be closed with immediate effect to prevent further spread of covid-19 except customs, immigration and quarantine complexes (ciqs) between sarawak and brunei (sungai tujuh, tedungan, pandaruan and mengkalap) would be open from 6 am to 8 pm (utc+8) while ciqs between sarawak and kalimantan (tebedu, biawak and lubok antu) would be open between 9 am and 3 pm (utc+8). on 27 march, sarawak disaster management committee chairman datuk amar douglas uggah said border between sarawak and brunei will be open from 6 am to 6 pm (utc+8) effective 28 march 2020. on 8 july, all visitors crossing brunei through the border via land will not be required to obtain permission from sarawak disaster committee and police to enter sarawak except those who slept the night in brunei or transited in brunei via flight will need to obtain permission to enter sarawak. bans on mass gathering events on 15 march, immediately after the spikes of the cases which related to the religious gathering at sri petaling mosque in kuala lumpur on 28 february to 1 march, state disaster management committee in a statement said all government and public gatherings involving the participation of more than 50 people in sarawak must be postponed to a later date. on 5 april, sarawak government announced that ramadhan and gawai bazaar will be canceled in the state to ensure the safety of sarawakians. on 24 august, sarawak disaster management committee has made decision to allow only 50% of venue size capacity for social and official events that involve mass gathering whilst accommodating physical distancing effective 25 august. on 29 october, the health ministry announced that a total of 209 learning institutions in kuching would be closed from 30 october until 13 november following the designation of the kuching district as a red zone. on 18 december, sarawak disaster management committee (sdmc) announced that christmas celebration in the state are only permitted for the first day which is 25 december and the maximum attendance capacity are only 20 person at a time and it is limited to family members only. on 12 january, sarawak disaster management committee (sdmc) announced that chinese new year celebration in the state are only permitted for the first day with attendance limited to 20 persons at a time and only for close family members only. on 15 january, sarawak's state welfare, community well-being, women, family and childhood development minister fatimah abdullah announced that flood relief centres in sarawak would be operating at 50% capacity to enable social distancing and reduce the risk of covid-19 infection. fighting misinformation i-alerts is one of the sarawak government's initiatives to keep sarawakians updated with the covid-19 situation in sarawak. more importantly, the official mobile app can help the state combat fake news during this crisis. i-alerts brings together all disaster-related agencies and units to ensure an always accurate and up-to-date situation updates to ensure sarawak citizens stay constantly informed and in the know with news and videos. the official app is managed by the state disaster management committee and information on the app is available in three languages namely english, bahasa melayu and mandarin. sarawakians are advised to download i-alerts on their mobile devices not just to be kept in the loop of the covid-19 situation, but to also play an active role in helping to contain the spread of the disease. android users can download i-alerts via the google play store while apple users can do the same via the app store by searching the name " i-alerts ". contact tracing in may 2020, sarawak government launched two mobile apps to facilitate covid-19 contract tracing namely "covidtrace" and "qmunity". covidtrace facilitates the collection of information for those who are close contact with covid positive people. qmunity helps the business community to get contact details when customers entered the premises. funds and aid on the pandemic universiti malaysia sarawak (unimas) student representative council (mpp) dry food aid for students staying outside campus on 31 march 2020. aid from other countries on 26 march, sarawak has received 20,000 face masks from china's fujian province. provincial government of fujian donated these face masks as a friendship agreement with sarawak, through the chinese consulate. provincial government of fujian also provided assistance through a video conferencing session between their medical specialists and those in sarawak. the shandong provincial government, which is another friendship state with sarawak, will send more masks through the consulate in the coming week. local pandemic fund within sarawak on 23 march, toh puan datuk patinggi raghad kurdi taib, wife of yang di-pertua negeri sarawak tun pehin sri abdul taib mahmud, has donated rm60,000 to the sarawak general hospital in the battle against the covid-19 pandemic. on 25 march, leading medical/healthcare beds, peripherals and accessories provider lkl international bhd (lkl international) will supply rm6.6 million worth of personal protective equipment (ppe) to the sarawak state government for onward distribution to public hospitals under the sarawak state health department and the frontline healthcare personnel in their battle against covid-19. on 30 march, yang di-pertua negeri of sarawak, tun pehin sri abdul taib mahmud donates various equipment and essential items, worth rm120,500 to the sarawak general hospital (sgh) today, to help in the treatment of covid-19 patients. the governor also donated 700 food packs and mineral water to sarawak police operations room, to be distributed to police, armed forces a well as people's volunteer corps (rela) personnel who are carrying out roadblocks during movement control order (mco). food aids are generally distributed via political parties affiliated with the government with number of beneficiaries and amount of spending publicised. other details such as sourcing of food aids, food vendors selections, value of food packages, and deliveries were not revealed. state-government assistance package on 23 march, sarawak chief minister datuk patinggi abang johari tun openg announced rm1.15 billion sarawakku sayang special aid package including 16 measures to reduce covid-19 impact on the state: domestic, commercial and industrial consumers given a discount of five per cent to 25 per cent on monthly electricity bill for april until september 2020. domestic, commercial and industrial consumers given discount of 10 per cent to 25 per cent on their monthly water bill for april until september 2020. sarawakian from the low-income category, the b40 group will be provided a monthly cash pay-out of rm250 for 6-months. special monthly incentives for frontline personnel involved in covid-19. discount of 50 per cent for rental of market and stalls covering