KOTA KINABALU: For the past 24 hours, the big question here has been whether diners are allowed back into eateries.

       Sabah Chief Minister Datuk Seri Hajiji Noor had announced on Monday that dine-ins would be permitted starting yesterday under Phase One of the National Recovery Plan.Coffeeshops opened their doors to patrons yesterday morning but within hours, they switched back to offering only takeaway services.

       It all began at about 10am yesterday when health enforcement officers from Kota Kinabalu City Hall issued a summons to a coffeeshop operator in Damai Plaza for not having a valid health certificate and also warned him not to put tables and chairs on the public walkway.Word spread and soon, other coffeeshop operators began putting away their tables and chairs.

       Talk spread quickly across Sabah. There were reports from east coast towns that local authorities in Sandakan, Lahad Datu and Tawau were advising eateries to wait for the standard operating procedure on dining in to be issued.

       So far, there had been no official statement on the “enforcement against dine-ins” though some coffeeshop operators said health enforcement officers had asked them to put away their tables and chairs until a fresh SOP was available.However, most of these coffeeshop operators said in an interview said that it was more of advice rather than official action.

       “It is confusing. I just closed as we are not sure, ” said a coffeeshop operator who declined to be named.

       Sabah Covid-19 spokesman Datuk Seri Masidi Manjun said the State Secretary would issue SOP guidelines while waiting for the SOP approval from the Federal Government.