KUALA LUMPUR, April 29 — The approval for some economic sectors to return to full capacity came with the condition for these to strictly obey the Health Ministry’s guidelines, Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said.
The Health director-general said these include requirements for temperature scanning, social distancing and others.
“Even before the movement control order (MCO) was implemented, essential services have been allowed to operate. Then, in the second phase of MCO we allowed the economic sector to operate at about 50 per cent.
“Now in the fourth phase of the MCO we allowed the approved economic sectors to operate 100 per cent. However, they are subjected to the Health Ministry’s guidelines,” he said in his daily briefing on Covid-19 update.
Yesterday, the Ministry of International Trade and Industry announced that the approved sectors are allowed to operate at full capacity and with no time restrictions during MCO to tackle the current economic crisis.
Separately, Dr Noor Hisham also said that authorities need at least one more week to decide on new rules to achieve a gradual exit from the MCO for areas free of Covid-19.
“However, before easing the MCO in the identified states, districts, sub-districts and areas, we must first fulfil the six criteria highlighted by the World Health Organisation (WHO).
“The most important criteria is the ‘community empowerment’. We have to see what are our actions in the identified areas, to make sure the community there is protected,” he said.
The other criteria were border control, local movement, health system, steps to protect high-risk groups and adhering to new norms.
“We have to make sure this SOP is completed and followed. At the moment, we are still looking into the SOP and it might take about a week to finalise it.
“If the ministry is satisfied with the SOP, maybe we will ease the MCO there, but at the moment, there is no decision yet,” added Dr Noor Hisham.
