KUALA LUMPUR, June 1 — Previously-issued letters by the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (Miti) for work-related travels can be used until Thursday, Petaling Jaya police chief Assistant Commissioner (ACP) Mohamad Fakhrudin Abdul Hamid reportedly said.

The Star reported him saying in a press conference, that many are still using their previously issued letters, despite the government announcing that all such letters have expired as of yesterday, with new ones required.

"Some have said the new ones are still pending, while others have said that they have just applied the night before. So, as per the orders of the state police chief, we will allow the use of the old letters when we inspect cars at our roadblocks until June 3.

"We have also advised them to go through their employers to apply for the new Miti letter, or letter of authorisation from the respective ministries,” he reportedly said, adding that once the grace period ends, the police will start issuing compounds.

On May 30, Senior Minister (Security Cluster) Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob said that only 1.5 million workers a day across Malaysia will be allowed to travel under new restrictions effective today under the so-called "total lockdown”.

He said new requests to travel for work must be directed to their respective ministries.

He added that all existing permission letters issued by the Miti that allowed workers to travel under previous iterations of the MCO, will no longer be valid after May 31.

However, hardly a day later, the ministry was put back in charge as the one-stop coordinator for businesses to get written permission to operate from today.

The National Security Council (NSC) said new approval letters will be required for the lockdown from June 1 to June 14.