KUALA LUMPUR, Dec 7 — The government has removed a limit on the number of people allowed to share the same table in restaurants under its conditional movement control order (CMCO) with immediate effect.

The restriction removal is among several other new standard operating procedures listed by the National Security Council (NSC) in its official Facebook account.

However, the NSC said diners must continue to maintain a one-metre physical distance from each other.

“Restaurants and eateries are allowed to operate through dine-in (with a physical distancing of one metre between customers, according to the size of the table), takeaway, delivery or drive-through with compliance under the food and beverage sector SOP,” it said.

The new regulation is effective today until 11.59pm, December 20.

Previously, the government had only limited diners to two people per table when it announced the CMCO SOPs for the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur, Putrajaya and Selangor on October 14.

The SOP was later relaxed to four diners per table in a revised announcement on November 1.

The CMCO for Selangor, Kuala Lumpur and Sabah, including several districts in other states, has been extended for another 14 days to December 20.

Despite the extension, the government has announced relaxation of travel restrictions, with Malaysians no longer needing to ask for the police’s permission to travel to different districts within a state, or even from state to state from December 7 onwards.

Today’s announcement also includes a similar lifting of seating limitations in private vehicles, with the number of passengers allowed subject to the vehicle capacity.

As for areas that fell under the recovery movement control order (RMCO) until Dec 30, the government has also lifted the cap on the number of diners per table.

Other relaxations include the extension to business hours affecting those in the food and beverage, with premises now allowed to operate between 6am until 2am subjected to their licensing terms.

Social gatherings such as reunions or weddings are also allowed in RMCO areas under strict compliance with the general social gathering SOP conduct but are still disallowed in CMCO areas.

As for restricted activities, the latest announcement also prohibits nightclubs and pubs activities in both RMCO and CMCO areas indefinitely.

Click here for the full list of whether RMCO or CMCO applies in each state, based on the government’s announcement.