KUALA LUMPUR, May 18 — The Covid-19 Ministerial Quartet held its last meeting today after convening for the first time on Sept 14 last year.

Senior Defence Minister Datuk Seri Hishammuddin Hussein, who is also the chairman of the quartet, said that for the past nine months, the quartet was among the main initiatives by the government towards reopening the country in stages and safely.

"Since the establishment of the Ministerial Quartet, the country has entered the Transition to Endemic Phase, 181 standard operating procedures (SOPs) adopted since March 2020 and now there is only one general SOP and nine guidelines.

"...all sectors have been opened, every festival is allowed to be celebrated, face masks are also no longer required outdoors and check-ins using MySejahtera is no longer mandatory.

"The main goal behind this effort is to enable the people to go about their daily lives in an almost normal manner and learn to live with the Covid-19 virus,” he said after chairing the Covid-19 Ministerial Quartet meeting here.

Also present were Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin, Finance Minister Datuk Seri Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz and Selangor Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Amirudin Shari.

Meanwhile, Hishammuddin also thanked all the permanent members of the meeting comprising four ministers including the Minister of Health, Minister of Finance, Minister of Communications and Multimedia and himself.

"Not to be forgotten are the ministers who were also involved regularly, namely the Senior Works Minister, Senior Education Minister, Higher Education Minister, Transport Minister, Human Resource Minister, National Unity Minister, Foreign Minister, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department (Special Functions), Tourism, Arts and Culture Minister as well as Youth and Sports Minister.

"Thank you also to the National Security Council and all 29 agencies and uniformed units involved, including the Immigration Department, Malaysian Armed Forces and Royal Malaysia Police,” he said. — Bernama