WANT TO TRAVEL FOR RAYA?
Govt will decide on interstate travel ban based on Health Ministry’s advice, says Ismail Sabri
THE government is keeping its options open on whether to allow interstate travel to resume for the Hari Raya Aidilfitri celebration.
Senior Minister (Security Cluster)
Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob said any decision on whether the interstate travel ban would be lifted would be made based on recommendations by the Health Ministry.
He noted that the lifting of the interstate travel ban after the end of the Movement Control Order (MCO) last year contributed to a surge in Covid-19 infections.
“Interstate travel is one of the factors that led to the increase in Covid-19 infections. Currently, we have 32 clusters linked to interstate travel.”
He was responding to a question on whether the interstate travel ban would be lifted for Hari Raya Aidilfitri. He cited several cases that involved interstate travel.
“Sarawak was a green zone, but now has numerous orange and red zones after interstate travel was allowed.
“Another example is in Kelantan, which saw spikes in cases after people returned to their hometown there in December.”
He said 65 per cent of Kelantan became red zones, leading to the enforcement of the MCO in the state.
“The Health Ministry has projected that daily new cases will drop to 500 by May.
“So those who wish to return to their hometowns, continue to adhere to the SOP. By doing so, the number of new cases may drop faster than expected.”
On another matter, Ismail Sabri, who is also senior defence minister, said sports fans would soon be allowed to watch matches at stadiums under a new set of standard operating procedures (SOP) to prevent the spread of Covid-19.
He said the new ruling would be implemented from April 1 with two Malaysian Football League games as proof of concept to test the effectiveness of the spectator management protocol.
The SOP includes selling tickets online, a minimum of 1.5m to 2m distance between every spectator, only existing stalls in stadiums can operate and organised entry and exit points.
To a question on schools allegedly being instructed to withhold information on Covid-19 cases from the Health Ministry, Ismail Sabri said this would be an offence under the Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases Act 1988 (Act 342).
“The Education Ministry will be the best authority to clarify any directives related to schools. But it is an offence for any party to withhold information from the Health Ministry.
“For example, some factories have been fined for not informing the ministry about Covid-19 cases involving their workers.
“So it is compulsory for every individual, employer as well as school management to report cases to the Health Ministry.
On SOP violations, Ismail Sabri said 39 out of 58 individuals arrested by police on Wednesday had participated in activities at entertainment outlets.
“The arrests made yesterday (Wednesday) is relatively low and I hope this trend will continue.
“Two days ago, I said there was no arrest related to activities at entertainment outlets, but today (yesterday), we see that there are 39 violations over this.
“I hope the implementation of the maximum compound against those participating in activities at entertainment outlets will stop people from committing the offence.”