KUALA LUMPUR: The government has decided to close around 151 shopping malls and supermarkets nationwide for sanitation purposes for 3 days from 9th May to 11th May.
This strict measure is taken to help curb the spread of COVID-19 in the community.
Locations affected include food courts as well as some banks.
These premises and locations that have been identified by Hotspot Identification For Dynamic Engagement (HIDE) as Covid hotspots, are mainly located in Kuala Lumpur, Selangor, Johor, Melaka, Negeri Sembilan, Penang Island, Perak, Kelantan, Sabah and Sarawak.
Critics claim, factories are in fact the main contributors of Covid-19 infections, followed by prisons, and schools… Why should the government close shopping malls instead?
According to data from the health ministry, most of the clusters happened in factories, jails and schools.
Shopping malls identified by HIDE as hotspots, though no cluster has been recorded in them, the government said they are potential locations where large COVID-19 clusters might emerge and cause more disaster, especially at this time close to Hari Raya festival when all Muslim Malaysians would go shopping.
“There has been a huge surge of activities and footfall to shopping malls on the run up to Hari Raya Aidilfitri,” said Minister Khairy Jamaluddin in a joint press conference with Health Minister Datuk Seri Dr Adham Baba today.
National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme (NIP) coordinating Minister added that the government does not want to close all shopping malls or premises as not to cause an alarm.
“We have decided not to list everything because that might create further panic and alarm but are concentrating on large hotspots only.
“There are some people asking why there are no factories, no offices, why they are just shopping malls. In fact, if we look at the big list which includes large hotspots and small hotspots it includes a lot of different types of premises not just retail, but also office and factories,” he added._ Nalaysia World News
