The Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) has improved the online system for economic sectors to apply to resume businesses during the third phase of the movement control order (MCO) period following complaints received.

Senior Minister (Economic Cluster) Datuk Seri Mohamed Azmin Ali said after the improvement was made in collaboration with Cyber Security Matlaysia and Telekom Malaysia Bhd, MITI received a total of 18,650 new applications on the first day of the operation.

"This is a huge figure compared to the number of applications that we received during phase one and phase two of the MCO, where in six days we received only 12,360 applications to be processed.

"This proves that with the upgraded system, I believe the system has enough integrity and is able to process the applications smoothly within the timeframe," he told a press conference here today.

Mohamed Azmin, who is also International Trade and Industry Minister, said the system was unable to cope with the extremely high number of individuals and companies seeking access to file their applications during the first two hours after it was opened on April 13.

"In fact, the problem that we'd encountered on the first day was that the applications came in not only from eligible companies but also individuals. Fifty per cent of the applications were from individuals," he said.

Mohamed Azmin, on April 10, announced that companies in the additional sectors, which were allowed to operate during the MCO, could apply to MITI online at www.miti.gov.m from April 13.

He said the list of companies that were successful in their applications would be given to the Royal Malaysia Police for verification and enforcement.

"This is to ensure that only companies that were approved are allowed to operate, and their employees are allowed to go to work," he said, adding that each employee would be given a letter by MITI to enable them to travel to work.

In addition, Mohamed Azmin said other ministries and agencies were also assisting MITI in processing the applications, including the Ministry of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs, SME Corp Bhd and Bank Negara Malaysia.

-- BERNAMA