KUALA LUMPUR, May 4 — Senior Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob is scheduled to hold a press conference this afternoon at around 5pm, after days of speculation that a movement control order (MCO) will be reintroduced in the Klang Valley as well as several states.

On Sunday (May 2), English daily The Star reported sources as saying that the government is set to announce a two-week MCO starting from May 3 in Selangor, Kuala Lumpur, Penang, Johor and Sarawak.

Malaysia has so far had two iterations of the MCO — either nationwide or covering most parts of the country.

Ismail Sabri was later reported on the same day as denying the speculation, saying that there has yet to even be a meeting by the National Security Council (NSC) since Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin’s remark on the government’s need to review the current MCO.

On the same day, national news agency Bernama too had to clarify that an infographic with the title “MCO3” — which listed standard operating procedures (SOPs) for business operations and which had been circulating on social media — was actually an old infographic dated April 21, 2020.

Yesterday, Federal Territories Minister Tan Sri Annuar Musa was reported by Bernama as saying that several state governments had requested for the MCO to be reintroduced due to the increase in the number of Covid-19 cases.

Annuar said the requests were made during the NSC’s Covid-19 meeting chaired by the prime minister yesterday, and that the NSC would do an in-depth study of the state governments’ requests.

Annuar also said several localities in Kuala Lumpur are Covid-19 hotspots, which he suggested would be best handled with a targeted MCO.

Penang Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow yesterday also said Penang would continue to remain under the conditional movement control order (CMCO), as there was no decision from the Muhyiddin-chaired NSC meeting that he attended yesterday on any changes to the current status quo for the state.

On May 1, the prime minister said the federal government will review the MCO currently in force, especially in states experiencing a drastic increase in Covid-19 cases.