KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 16 — Deputy Youth and Sports Minister Datuk Seri Ti Lian Ker today said that the authority to reopen gyms lies with the National Security Council (NSC) and that his ministry has submitted its proposed standard operating procedures (SOPs) for the agency to consider.

Speaking to Malay Mail, Ti clarified his remarks, which were earlier reported by The Star, that gyms in states currently under Phase 2 and 3 of the National Recovery Plan (NRP) can reopen tomorrow.

"We have submitted the new SOPs to the NSC, and it is up to the NSC gazetting it first before gyms are allowed to open.

"So gyms will only be opened when the proposed SOPs are gazetted,” he said when contacted for clarification.

The initial report quoted Ti as saying that gym access will only be granted to the fully vaccinated, while SOPs, such as physical distancing and the wearing of face masks, must be enforced.

"Operators need to be fully vaccinated to open their premises,” Ti was quoted as saying in a report by The Star.

"Gyms are also only open for fully-vaccinated people,” he added, saying that both outdoor and indoor sporting activities would also be allowed to resume.

He reportedly said the Ministry of Health (MOH) had several concerns about ventilation issues and that this has since been resolved.

Earlier this week, the Youth and Sports Ministry proposed that sports premises, such as fields and gyms, be allowed to operate.

Last week, Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin announced the Health Ministry (MoH) was drawing up ventilation guidelines for gyms, together with the NSC.

"For gyms, @KKMPutrajaya will be jointly developing some ventilation guidelines with MKN that need to be adhered to. This will not take long but because of the nature of indoor fitness centres, we must stress on certain ventilation requirements. Working on it urgently,” Khairy said, using the Malay acronyms for the MoH and the NSC respectively.