KUALA LUMPUR, March 23 — There is no such rule that makes it mandatory for the public to wear face masks, Senior Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob said earlier today.

The defence minister said any supermarkets that imposes such rules to their customers take their own initiatives, and not under the movement control order (MCO) enforced by the government to stop the spread of the Covid-19 outbreak.

“Even though there is no fixed rule that all must wear face masks, but it was the initiative taken by the supermarkets.

“However, for us the important thing is the social distancing and not that entering supermarkets with masks,” he told a press conference.

“Therefore, if [the public] can inform where [the supermarkets are located], we can issue a detailed guideline to the supermarkets on this matter,” he added.

He said that supermarket can take own initiatives to help the authorities in curbing the infection, but stressed that they cannot make up rules that superseded the order enforced by the government.

Despite Ismail's clarification, in Kuala Lumpur outlets were merely toeing the directive given out by the Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) on March 22.

DBKL had issued a directive saying that all staff, shoppers and suppliers to wear face masks and observe social distancing of 1m from each other, or risk being closed under the Local Government Act 1976.

However, Ismail Sabri also commended most of the supermarkets which have implement good precautionary measures in preventing the virus from being spread.

“Most of the supermarkets and the one I visited have good precautionary measures. Almost all the people in the supermarket have mask and there are also some supermarkets, which prepares plastic gloves so that the customers can protect their hands.

“I also saw some supermarkets display notice of social distancing and also limits the entrance of customers at a time, so that the place would not be crowded,” he said.

 

 

Meanwhile, Health Director-General Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah has again clarified today that one should only wear a face mask if they show symptoms or deals with patients in the healthcare sector, and not obligatory in public for the rest.

Responding to persisting confusion over conflicting statements and guidelines over the need for mask wearing in public including by security authorities, Dr Noor Hisham explained that social distancing is more than enough in general.

After the government announced a nationwide Movement Control Order beginning March 18, a number of Malaysians have found themselves repeated instructed by the authorities to don a face mask and some have been barred from entering supermarkets to shop for groceries without one.

This naturally led to confusion, paranoia and frustration among Malaysians amid the shortages of face masks in the country as one could be publicly shammed for not donning one in public.