KUALA LUMPUR, May 10 — The existing conditional movement control order (CMCO) enforced nationwide will be extended to June 9, Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin announced today.

In his special address on the 7th day of the CMCO, Muhyiddin said despite achieving several positive results throughout the movement control order (MCO) imposed since March 18, measures must be taken to continue the fight against the pandemic.

“I also discovered that the rakyat, in a general manner, wants the government to continue taking measures to curb the outbreak.

“Therefore on the advice of the Health Ministry, the ongoing CMCO scheduled to expire on May 12 will be extended to June 9 for a period of four weeks. This also means that all existing standard operating procedures (SOP) will be maintained until June 9,” he said.

Malaysia today entered the 54th day of the movement control order that was imposed to break the chain of infection of the Covid-19 virus in the country.

The MCO, which has now entered its fifth phase, was originally scheduled to expire on May 12.

Muhyiddin said any changes in regards to the existing SOP or economic sectors allowed to resume operations will be announced from time to time.

He also said the enforcement of the CMCO has gone smoothly, without any unexpected congestion in the country’s public transport sector, a testament to the rakyat’s high compliance.

“To date it is estimated that around 6.64 million or 43.6 per cent of workers have returned to work. I am expecting this figure to increase in the coming weeks,” he said.

Up to 12pm yesterday, Malaysia recorded 54 new Covid-19 infections with 1,552 active cases and a total of 4,929 patients recovered.

As of today, a total of 108 fatalities related to Covid-19 have been recorded.

Meanwhile, Muhyiddin also expressed hopes a vaccine can be produced soon as he was informed by several world leaders that clinical trials have begun in the race to produce a viable vaccine for Covid-19.

However, producing a vaccine is a time-consuming process which may take between 12 to 18 months, Muhyiddin said.