PETALING JAYA: Malaysians will soon find out details of the tightened enforcement to be implemented under the latest movement control order at 5pm on Saturday (May 22).
Senior Minister (Security) Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob and Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah will jointly address the nation and it can be viewed on both television and also online channels.
On Friday (May 21) the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) said the meeting chaired by Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin agreed that more efforts needed to be taken to flatten the Covid-19 infection curve.
The special meeting of the National Security Council (NSC) has unanimously decided to tighten the current movement control order with more restrictions on social and economic sectors.
The NSC special meeting was also attended by state government heads to get accounts of the situation on the ground in their states and to hear their views.
In a statement issued after the special meeting, the PMO said the NSC special meeting weighed the discussions and analyses in the meeting and unanimously agreed to tighten the implementation of MCO 3.0 which is currently in place, with added restrictions on social and economic sectors.
“The meeting analysed findings from the Health Ministry on the latest situation, including the infectivity rate, and proposed actions to control transmission.
“The meeting also discussed the current status of MCO 3.0 that began on May 12.
“The standard operating procedure for MCO 3.0 had been tightened, including restrictions on the interstate and inter-district travel; social, sports and recreational activities; and physical meetings and conferences.
“However, transmissions within the community have increased and with new aggressive Covid-19 variants, efforts to flatten the infection rate are taking a long time, “ the PMO said in a statement issued after the special meeting.
The statement comes after much speculation on whether the government will impose a full-scale lockdown like the first MCO in March last year.
In recent days, the number of Covid-19 cases has surged to more than 6,000 daily, prompting calls from various parties for greater restrictions, while others argued that a total lockdown would do irreparable harm to the economy and livelihoods.
