Hair salons not allowed to operate in Penang during MCO - CM

The Penang government has decided not to allow hair salons to open or operate in the state during the Movement Control Order (MCO) period.

Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow said this was decided at the Special Meeting of State Security Committee (JKNN), which he chaired today.

"For the basic hair cut services sector that was also announced (by the federal government yesterday), the state government takes a serious view because from the feedback received, over 95 percent voiced their concern.

"In fact, the meeting also took into account other factors like social distancing and the possibility of creating new COVID-19 infection clusters," he told a press conference broadcast live via his Facebook page today.

Therefore, he said the state government had the right not to obey the federal government's decision, if it was implemented, and hoped the government would review the matter for the safety of everyone.

Yesterday, the government through the International Trade and Industry Ministry (MITI) allowed several additional sectors and selected services to operate in stages under the MCO until April 28.

Meanwhile, Chow said the state government would extend the operating period for the sale of agricultural inputs (fertilisers/pesticides), hardware, pets' food and medicine until 5 pm from Monday (April 13).

"The operating period will be extended to 5 pm, whereby they operate from 8 am to 5 pm compared to 8 am to 2 pm currently. They are still only allowed to operate twice a week on Monday and Thursday," he said, while advising Penangites to be careful when purchasing face masks online.

He said the Royal Malaysia Police (PDRM) statistics showed that a total of 60 investigation papers had been recorded on the fraudulent online sale of face masks from Jan 30 to April 9 in the five districts in the state involving losses of RM466,496.

-- BERNAMA