PUTRAJAYA, June 17 — Children are allowed at public places, including shopping centres and restaurants but all precautions must be taken to protect them during the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.

Senior Minister (Security Cluster) Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob said parents or guardians would not be punished for bringing along children to public places as there are no penalties gazetted for such actions.

“There are no restrictions for children to buy toys, shop and so on if they are with their parents.

“However, as I have always advised, if possible, try not to bring them along as children are part of the high-risk group, and parents must put their interests above anything else, even if they have face masks on.

“There are no penalties for this but since they are categorised under the Covid-19 high-risk group, we do not encourage children to tag along,” he said at the recovery movement control order (RMCO) media briefing here today. 

He said the same applied for playgrounds and recreational centres as long as social distancing and crowd protocols are properly adhered to.

On whether cinemas are allowed to re-open, he said a decision has yet to be taken by the Special Ministerial Meeting on the movement control order (MCO).

Meanwhile, Ismail Sabri said pasar malam (night market) hawkers and traders must seek further details from the Kuala Lumpur City Hall (DBKL) on the standard operating procedures (SOPs) applied during the RMCO period.

“If there are matters that inconvenience them, their association must hold further discussions with DBKL to iron them out.

“DBKL can then bring these concerns to the special ministerial meeting, and if we can make amendments, then Insyaallah we will,” he said.

He was asked on the fate of some 500 hawkers and traders of the Lorong Tuanku Abdul Rahman (TAR) night market who have opted to postpone the resumption of their business under the RMCO after finding the set standard operating procedures (SOPs) too restrictive.

Meanwhile, Ismail Sabri said the police conducted 69,370 RMCO compliance inspections nationwide, involving 16,712 personnel, yesterday.

At the same time, he said police detained 61 individuals for defying RMCO directives.

“Of these, nine individuals were remanded while 52 were compounded. Among the violations were indulging in pub and nightclub activities (44 individuals), reflexology and massage (4), and activities that did not comply with social distancing requirements,” he said. — Bernama