Movement Control Order 3.0 Goes Nationwide From Now Until 7 June: Here Are The SOPs

 

Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin has announced that Malaysia is now placed under the Movement Control Order (MCO). These also include locations that were previously designated as Conditional MCO and Recovery MCO which include states such as Penang, Johor, Sabah, Sarawak, Melaka and others. 

In the announcement, he pointed out that the country is now facing the third wave of COVID-19 infections which could potentially cause a national crisis. This wave is also discovered to include newer strains of the coronavirus that also has a high rate of infection.

PM Muhyiddin stressed that the country has exceeded 4,000 cases as of 10 May 2021, with a total of 37,396 active cases and 1,700 reported deaths related to COVID-19. He noted that the major cause of the increased number of cases is attributed to various public gathering activities which have caused difficulties in maintaining social distancing practices.

In light of this, the National Security Council (MKN) have decided to take drastic measures by implementing MCO nationwide, with hopes to curb the further spreading of COVID-19 in the country.

For clarity, here are all the SOPs as stipulated by PM Muhyiddin in his announcement:  

• Interstate and interdistrict travel are not allowed. The exceptions being for emergency cases, or for health, work and economic related affairs, married couples who are located in different areas, or for vaccine appointments.

• Public social gatherings such as weddings, tahlil, dinner receptions, birthdays, and events are not allowed. This also applies to official events, face-to-face meetings, seminars and study courses.

• Marriage ceremonies are permitted but are required to adhere to the attendance restrictions and SOPs determined by JAIS for Muslims, and by the National Registration Department for non-Muslims. 
• All sports and recreational activities involving multiple individuals are prohibited. However, personal activities such as jogging, cycling and regular exercises in public areas are allowed – provided that social distancing is maintained.

• Educational institutions are required to close during MCO, but exceptions are given to students who will be sitting for international examinations. Meanwhile, daycare centres and kindergartens are allowed to operate with proper SOPs in place. 
• Personal transportation, taxis and e-hailing services are only allowed to carry three individuals, including the driver. Meanwhile, the individual capacity for freight vehicles, as well as those used for economical and industrial purposes, are determined by the limit described on their respective business licences. 
• As for public transportation, operators are required to maintain social distancing restrictions on their vehicles (LRT, MRT, buses) and also adhere to the SOPs that have been determined by the government.

• The economic sector is allowed to operate throughout the duration of MCO. 
• Dine-in at eateries is no longer allowed. Instead, the public is encouraged to rely on drive-thru, takeaways, and delivery approaches. 
• Workplaces are required to instruct employees to Work From Home (WFH), and to also maintain not more than 30% of management staff to be in the office at all times. 
• Open houses, house visits, and cemetery visits during Hari Raya Aidilfitri are not permitted. 
• Mosques and suraus with a capacity of supporting more than 1,000 individuals are only allowed to host 50 attendees for Aidilfitri prayers, whereas those that could only support less than 1,000 may only allow a total of 20 attendees. 
• Non-muslim places of worship will also see revised restrictions. These will be determined by the National Unity and Integration Department at a later date. 
• Specific measures that are implemented in the states of Sabah and Sarawak, as well as the Federal Territory of Labuan, will resume accordingly.

The restrictions on inter-district and interstate movements as well as on social, sports, and education activities are already in place starting from today until 6 June, following the announcement made by the Senior Minister for Defense, Ismail Sabri Yaakob on 8 May.

As for other restrictions, they will be enforced on 12 May instead and will last until 7 June. Please keep in mind that the ones listed above are just a small number from a larger list of SOPs that is likely going to be revised by MKN.

Currently, other possible changes such as operating hours for premises and services such as food delivery and so on are still not known. It is quite likely that the complete list of updated SOPs from MKN will be issued to the public by tomorrow morning or so.

On that note, we’ll definitely keep you posted for any updates.

Govt To Implement Nationwide Ban On Interstate and Inter-District Movements From 10 May Onwards

Aside from having premises that are listed by the HIDE system to be closed immediately, the government has also decided to ban all interstate and inter-district movements throughout the country. The decision was announced by Senior Minister for Defence, Ismail Sabri Yaakob earlier today.

The new directive will be enforced throughout the country starting from this coming Monday, 10 May 2021 and will last for the next four weeks until Sunday, 6 June 2021. This is regardless of whether the area is within the Movement Control Order (MCO), Enhanced MCO (EMCO), Conditional MCO (CMCO), or Recovery MCO (RMCO) zones.

An exception will only be given to those that have received approvals from the police. However, the minister didn’t provide any details regarding activities that can be greenlighted by the police.

That being said, Minister Ismail did say that all social, education, and economic activities that can cause mass gatherings or public congestions will be prohibited starting from this Monday as well. The same restriction also applies to all official and social events as well as face-to-face activities within the government and private sector.

Even though these restrictions will last until early June, they will be reviewed again by the authorities after two weeks according to the minister. Given that there are so many things that are still very unclear about the new directive, we expect further clarifications to be announced tomorrow. So, stay tuned.

Government To Expand AstraZeneca Vaccine Distribution Nationwide

The government will be expanding the distribution of the AstraZeneca (AZ) COVID-19 vaccine to other states in Malaysia, according to the Chairman of the COVID-19 Immunisation Task Force (CITF), Minister Khairy Jamaluddin. This decision was made after the first registration session for Selangor and Kuala Lumpur residents which took place yesterday.

Even though the initial experience was rather unpleasant due to technical difficulties and massive traffic, yesterday’s AZ vaccine registration day was fairly successful as all of the 268,000 available doses were reserved in a span of 3 hours and 12 minutes.

For the nationwide distribution, it will be taking into account individuals that don’t have access to the Internet, as opposed to yesterday’s session for Selangor and Kuala Lumpur which was done completely online through the official website for the Special Committee on the COVID-19 Vaccine Supply (JKJAV).

For this purpose, the authorities will be roping in the Ministry of Health’s Community Clinics to distribute the AZ vaccine which will continue to be offered on a voluntary basis according to Minister Khairy. As for the Sarawak state government who had rejected the offer for the vaccine, the minister hopes that the state will reconsider its decision.

On a related note, Minister Khairy revealed that MySejahtera experienced 8,000 cancellations for vaccine appointment when the government announced the inclusion of the AZ vaccine into PICK. After it found out that the number of cancellations was steadily rising, JKJAV then decided to establish a separate distribution channel for the vaccine.

The minister added that around 80% of those that cancelled their vaccine appointment came back and registered again after the AZ vaccine received its own distribution program. From there, it seems rather clear that vaccine hesitancy is a real issue when it comes to the particular vaccine.

Satellite-Based 35Mbps Broadband Service Coming To 839 Locations Nationwide

The Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) today announced that 839 locations throughout the country will receive broadband service through satellite. The implementation of this service is being done under the Jalinan Digital Negara (JENDELA) plan.

These areas consist of Orang Asli settlements as well as remote areas with 178 of them have been identified in Perak, Selangor, Negeri Sembilan, Johor, Pahang, and Kelantan. As for Sabah and Sarawak, there are 138 and 523 locations for each state, respectively.

According to the Request for Proposal (RFP) document that the commission has published on its website today, here are the project’s main deliverables:

• Average throughput of 35Mbps per user during all three (3) peak hours, defined as: 7.00am – 10.00am / 2.00pm – 3.00pm / 8.00pm – 10.00pm.
• 60% of the subscribers in location to get an average throughput of 35Mbps.
• The network must be available at least 98% of the time in a year, excluding any scheduled downtime.

The document also stated that the satellite-based broadband service is being rolled out as a temporary solution to these areas for up to two years, while they are waiting for a permanent solution. It also said that the chosen providers have to roll out the service, which includes free Wi-Fi access for the population in the listed areas, in four months’ time.

That rollout period seems like a tall order but then again, MCMC has stated in today’s announcement that the commission expects the service to be up by October 2021. Ambitious aim aside, it is certainly an interesting addition to the JENDELA plan which already includes the discontinuation of the 3G network and 4G & fibre coverage expansion as well as to a certain extent, MyDigital’s expedited 5G implementation.