Health Ministry ironing out SOP for hair salons

The Health Ministry is gathering data and finalising standard operating procedures (SOP) for hair salons.

In his daily press briefing today, Health director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said the ministry is finding ways to prevent Covid-19 outbreaks from occurring should such salons be allowed to operate.

“We are looking into this and the data we need now is the number of foreign workers involved in cutting hair.

“That is one dataset we need before we can suggest how hairdressing salons can be reopened.

“What is for sure is that the SOP has been prepared and the ministry is looking into it. We want to refine it,” he said when asked if salons would be able to operate during the conditional movement control order (MCO).

The Star recently quoted a request from the Malaysian Hairdressers Association (MHA) that salons be allowed to reopen now that Covid-19 cases had reduced.

The association proposed an SOP on how to observe social distancing while cutting hair.

 As of noon today, Malaysia reported 37 new Covid-19 cases and one death.

Of the 6,978 total cases, 1,218 (17.5 percent) are active cases that are still in treatment while the rest (80.9 percent) have recovered and been discharged.

Back in April, the International Trade and Industry Ministry rescinded its permission for hair salons to operate following objections from the public as well as the MHA.

At the time, the association had said that it was impossible to maintain social distancing while cutting hair and was concerned about the risk of Covid-19 infections. - Mkini