KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysians have been advised to remain at home and refrain from going out except for necessary matters such as buying essentials during the nationwide two-week shutdown, the National Security Council (NSC) said.
In a statement today, the NSC advised Malaysians to practice social distancing by staying about one metre apart from others in order to minimise the Covid-19 infection risk.
“To enhance the effectiveness of this Movement Control Order (MCO), the public is advised to be at home at all times except to fulfill basic needs,” the statement read.
The Movement Control Order (MCO) was announced by Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin recently which involved a ban on public gatherings and other activities including religious events for the next two weeks until March 31.
He also announced the temporary closure of schools, primary, secondary and pre-university institutions, as well as services sectors that are considered as “non-essential”, among others.
This was due to the sudden increase of Covid-19 cases in Malaysia. So far, two deaths have been reported, with one in Sarawak and another in Johor. Total cases rose to 673 confirmed infections.
The essential sectors include services such as water, electricity, energy, telecommunications, post, transportation, irrigation, oil, gas, fuel and lubricants, broadcasting, finances, banking, health, pharmacies, fire and rescue, prisons, ports, airports, security, defence, public cleansing, retail and food supply.
In the statement today, NSC also released a detailed list of essential service sectors and a very limited list of non-essential services that are allowed to continue operating during the two-week MCO.
Hotels, wildlife services, Customs and Immigration Department have been added to the government's official list of essential sectors that may continue operating.
Car towing services are allowed but repairing services can only operate at a minimal level while in-progress construction projects that could affect the safety and security of the public may carry out their work on condition that it has received permission from the Works Department.
Swimming pools, pubs, gyms, bars, restaurants and spas are not allowed to operate during this two-week MCO while hotels and Homestay services are allowed to continue but customers must stay in the hotel room during this quarantine period and are only allowed to order room service.
“For further queries, the public may call the National Operations Management Centre, NSC, Prime Minister’s Department at 03-88882010.”