KUALA LUMPUR: Standard operating procedures (SOP) for celebrating Deepavali this year will be announced by the National Security Council (NSC), this week.
Senior Minister (Security Cluster) Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob said the government is currently drawing up the SOPs for the Nov 14 religious festival.
"We have already called relevant parties, including Hindu non-governmental organisations (NGOs), for their suggestions in order to come up with suitable Deepavali celebration SOPs.
"We should be able to release the SOPs for Deepavali by the end of this week," he told reporters at his daily press conference here, today.
Since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, the government has formulated SOPs for several religious celebrations, such as Hari Raya, in order to limit the movement of celebrants to curb virus transmission.