KUALA LUMPUR JAN.26: Husbands and wives who have to stay separately in other states because of work are now allowed to travel inter-state to meet up provided they get permission from the police.
Senior and Defence Minister, Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob said, they are allowed to travel inter-state to meet up with their families effective 27th Jan.2021.
“However couples with symptoms are advised not to travel but to get treatment and do swap test before they could start their journey home,” said Ismail in a press conference held here today.
He said, the permission was granted by the special meeting held yesterday following several grievances received from the couples asking to be given permission to meet up with their spouses and families via inter-state travel.
Regarding the issue of total lockdown after 4th February 2021 like the first Movement Control Order (MCO) implemented in March 2020 that had gone viral recently, Ismail said, they were several opinions on the issue but the Director General of Health had given his opinion that most probably the Conditional MCO (CMCO) could be implemented to ease the situation.
Earlier Ismail said, due to the news that had gone viral, many people were worried that the government might implement total lockdown and there was a panic buying among members of the public recently.
However he said, before any decision is made on the MCO, the government has to consider between the effects to the health and the economic impact on the people and the country.
Ismail added, if the government implements full lockdown on the economic sectors, several factors will be affected such as 1) 2.8 million people will lose their jobs 2) the income of 2.5 million workers will be affected and will lead to difficulties in their livelihoods 3) the B40 group will lose their incomes within a month that is equivalent to RM6.45 billion with the average of RM2,400 per family 4)According to the Commission of Malaysian Companies (SSM), since the implementation of MCO in March until October 2020, 13,445 companies had stopped their operations. This means many workers had lost their jobs.
“Any decision relating to whether the government will make stringent or less strict measures on MCO, will only be determined by the Ministry of Health (MOH) that will carry out the risk analysis and discussions as a whole with other parties and the final decision will be made at National Security Council (NSC) meeting,” Ismail reiterated.
Regarding the Thaipusam celebration Ismail said, this year the celebration is not allowed to be celebrated and all the Hindus are encouraged to perform their prayers in the house.
He said, only five committee members or the temple workers are allowed to be present at the temple to carry out the religious events.
Among the standard operating procedures (SOP) that the people in charge have to adhere to includes the chariot is allowed to move out from the Sri Maha Mariamman, Jalan Tun H.S Lee, Kuala Lumpur to Sri Subramaniam Temple in Batu Caves starting at 3.00am on 27th Jan.2020.
Only 10 people are allowed to be in the vehicle carrying the chariot including the driver with the police monitoring strictly.
The chariot will be taken out from Sri Subramaniam Temple, Batu Caves heading to Sri Maha Mariamman Temple , Kuala Lumpur starting from 3.00am on 29th January 2021 (Friday).
Ismail added, the temple management should facilitate the chariot journey and the roads that it passes together with the Royal Police Malaysia (RPM) and the Kuala Lumpur City Hall. The members of the public are not allowed to be at the road sides to watch the possession carrying the chariot. –Malaysia World News.
