Penang will fully implement the Recovery Movement Control Order (RMCO) for business and economic sectors statewide starting tomorrow as the Federal Government has announced, Chief Minister, Chow Kon Yeow said.

He said, the proposal was unanimously approved at the Penang State Security Special Committee (JKKN) meeting he chaired today.

“The meeting also agreed that other sectors in the prohibited category list prior to this would be opened in phases as announced by the federal government from time to time.

"The JKKN will head the state-level Monitoring Committee on the implementation of the seven core RMCO strategies and the Normalisation Phase announced by Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin and will be implemented at the state level in a co-ordinated and integrated manner," he said in a live post on his Facebook page today.

With the announcement, he pointed out that the allegations that Penang did not want to comply with the RMCO, which had been announced by the federal government, were false.

According to Chow, the minutes of the JKKN meeting dated June 2 had agreed that the Movement Control Order (MCO) could still be extended but needed to be in line with the socio-economic recovery and subject to the Federal government's decision.

He said, the state government was always ready and welcomed the calls and announcements by the federal government.

"As emphasised at the outset, any decision made by the state government is based on the health and socio-economic balance of the people in the state or, synonymously, 'we need to safeguard our lives and our livelihood'," he said.

In the meantime, he was confident that Penang would re-emerge as a popular tourist destination through the state's Tourism Recovery Action Plan as it remained a green and safe zone for tourists and local communities.

"The concept of 'Responsible Tourism' will be incorporated into the Tourism Recovery Action Plan to ensure the viability of the sector," he said. - BERNAMA