KUALA LUMPUR, April 30 — Senior Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaacob today suggested that only one individual from a family go out to buy food or daily essentials, even though Putrajaya allowed two immediate family members to travel together by car or motorcycle under the fourth phase of the movement control order (MCO).

He said one person can wait in the car while the other does the shopping, in order to avoid long queues in markets, supermarkets and grocery stores.

“What we suggest is that only one person does the shopping even though two people are allowed to go out.

“Maybe the husband can wait in the car while the wife shops for necessary items,” he said during a press conference this afternoon.

Yesterday, amendments were made to the Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases Act 1988 Gazette to allow an individual to be accompanied by a family member from the same household when out to purchase essential items and seek medical and healthcare services.

Ismail Sabri said that the government allowed changes to the standard operating procedure (SOP) of the MCO after receiving complaints from the public.

“There were complaints from the public saying that they have parking problems and there are cases where the wives are working, but don’t know how to drive and the husbands need to send them to work. These are among some of the issues.

“After considering the issues and looking at the cases of Covid-19, which is now gradually decreasing, we decided to allow this flexible measure,” he said.

However, Ismail Sabri stressed that other SOPs, such as social distancing and other rules set for the essential sectors will remain and should be followed by the public when they are out.