KUALA LUMPUR, March 12 — The Malaysian Bar today assured lawyers that precautionary measures are already in place for its 74th annual general meeting to be held this Saturday at Wisma MCA in Kuala Lumpur, amid a global Covid-19 outbreak.

Referring to its previous March 9 circular to its members where it addressed queries on whether the AGM would proceed amid Covid-19, the Malaysian Bar today again reiterated a legal requirement for its annual meeting to be held before April each year.

"Section 64(1) of the Legal Profession Act 1976 states that ‘The Bar Council shall each year convene an annual general meeting of the Malaysian Bar to be held before the first day of April,’” the Malaysian Bar said in its latest circular today signed off by its secretary Salim Bashir.

The Malaysian Bar also said Wisma MCA’s management had informed it of three measures, including that "extensive sanitisation” of the venue for this Saturday’s AGM has been done and continues to be carried out.

According to the Malaysian Bar, Wisma MCA’s security personnel will carry out infrared body temperature screening for everyone entering the building premises, with anyone having a body temperature of more than 38°C to be denied entry.

Other than Wisma MCA’s notification that bottles of hand sanitisers would be placed at various locations within the premises, the Malaysian Bar secretary also said the Bar Council would be providing face masks upon request by Malaysian Bar members and chambering students at the AGM.

The Malaysian Bar, however, also advised lawyers and chambering students not to attend the AGM if they had been in physical contact with a person infected with Covid-19.

It also urged them to seek medical advice and obtain medical clearance before attending the AGM if they had this month travelled to countries affected by Covid-19 such as China, Japan, Italy and Iran or if they have had symptoms such as a cold or respiratory tract infection.

"As for the Malaysian Bar’s Annual Dinner and Dance on the evening of March 14, 2020, the management of The Majestic Hotel Kuala Lumpur has similarly advised us that hotel personnel will carry out infrared body temperature screening for all visitors and guests at the hotel,” the circular said.

"In light of the current situation regarding Covid-19, we call on all members and pupils who intend to attend the AGM and/or the Annual Dinner and Dance to be mindful, for your wellbeing and that of others,” the circular added.

Under Section 64(4) of the Legal Profession Act 1976, a minimum of 500 members of the Malaysian Bar — which is composed of lawyers from peninsula Malaysia and the Federal Territories of Kuala Lumpur, Putrajaya and Labuan — is required to make up the quorum for an AGM.

A previous AGM

Wisma MCA is the same location where the Kuala Lumpur Bar had on February 27 held its AGM.

The KL Bar had on March 5 issued a notice that it was informed that one of its members who attended the AGM had recently tested positive for Covid-19.

After a series of public updates, the KL Bar further said on March 11 that it had been informed by the national Crisis Preparedness and Response Centre (CPRC) that there were no positive cases of Covid-19 for all of those who had attended the AGM and subsequently asked to go for testing on March 7 and March 9.

On March 6, the Wisma MCA management responded to news of the KL Bar AGM attendee having recently tested positive for Covid-19, saying that it was taking all necessary precautions and prompt epidemic preventive measures by disinfecting the auditorium, elevators, office building.

Wisma MCA’s management had also then explained it had provided hand sanitisers to visitors and carried out regular disinfection and other appropriate epidemic prevention efforts within the building since the start of the Covid-19 outbreak, and that it had further improved and reinforced such actions including by requiring all visitors to undergo temperature screening.