The island’s People’s Representative Council chairman, Mohd Dzulfaizal Abd Manan, said with the temporary closure of many supermarkets and hypermarkets (for Covid-19 sanitisation work), consumers were left with no choice but to make a beeline for all sundry shops in their respective villages and residential areas.

This has resulted in the retailers facing a low-stock situation.

“The ongoing stricter Sabah-Labuan-Sabah travel constraints, including requiring goods transporters to have the polymerase chain reaction test before entering Labuan, have also contributed to the low stock of essentials here,” he said.

The 14-day total lockdown from June 15 to 28 involves localities in the town centre (except the Financial Park Complex), Kampung Sungai Keling, Simpang Sahari, Kampung Bukit Kalam, the water villages of Kg Patau-Patau 1 and 2, Mutiara housing area in Sg Bedaun, Kampung Layang-Layangan, Kampung Durian Tunjong.

Dzulfaizal said among the essential goods in short supply at sundry shops were rice, cooking oil, eggs and sugar.

“This issue must be addressed effectively as the federal government has given an assurance of sufficient supply of goods.

“The demand for essentials has risen drastically due to the closure of many supermarkets and hypermarkets.

“The upcoming total lockdown in the eight densely populated localities has also resulted in an increase in prices,” he added.

Among the supermarkets and hypermarkets which remain closed for sanitisation today are the Milimewa and Emporich supermarkets, Family Mart and Bataras hypermarket.

The Labuan office of the domestic trade and consumer affairs ministry, in a statement, said the cooking oil supply shortage would only be addressed in stages beginning next week.

It said cooking oil wholesalers had just received the supply and they would be distributed to retailers in stages.

Bernama’s random checks also found consumers facing difficulty getting cooking gas over the past few days.