COVID-19 | The National Security Council has agreed to reopen certain tourism and sports sectors soon, pending the drafting of new standard operating procedures.
Defence Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob said the Tourism and Culture Ministry (Motac) and the Youth and Sports Ministry had presented the proposals at the NSC meeting yesterday, and the council has agreed in principle to the proposals.
“The NSC meeting yesterday had agreed in principle with Motac’s proposal to open tourism activities, including outdoor activities such as (visiting) Zoo Negara, Legoland and so on.
“However, we have asked Motac to present clearer and more detailed SOPs after discussing with the Health Ministry and NSC,” he told a press conference today.
Ismail said the NSC has already decided on a date for the new tourism SOPs to come into force, which will be announced together with the new procedures.
As for the sports sector, he said the Youth and Sports Ministry’s proposal mainly concerns outdoor sports activities.
Ismail added that a technical committee will meet on Thursday to hammer out the details of the new SOPs for the sports sector.
The announcement comes as Malaysia routinely records a four-figure number of new Covid-19 cases each day, while the disease’s effective reproduction number in the country hovers around the 1.0 mark.
According to the Health Ministry’s website, the effective reproduction number was estimated at 1.06 yesterday and 1.11 on the day before. A figure above 1.0 would indicate a growing outbreak.
Nevertheless, Ismail defended the government’s decision to continue loosening restrictions meant to curb the spread of the disease, citing the economic impact of such restrictions.
“We knew all this while that when the restrictions imposed are excessively tight, the people’s economy will be affected and companies would be forced to close. Our people who are daily wage earners could not work, and so on…
“In the end, these problems will worsen the situation. Those who remain free of the virus would become victims of circumstance because of the stern action we imposed,” he said.
The onus is on the people themselves, Ismail added, to ensure self-restraint and discipline to prevent themselves from catching the virus or passing the disease onto others. - Mkini
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