RMCO: Govt to tighten SOP again - Ismail Sabri

The government has today agreed to tighten again the standard operating procedure (SOP) of the Movement Control Order (MCO) that was eased during the implementation of the Recovery MCO (RMCO).

Senior Minister (Security Cluster) Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaacob said the decision was made following concerns over the rise in COVID-19 cases in the past week.

"Basically, the decision was agreed upon at today's Special Ministerial Meeting on the implementation of the MCO.

"The technical committee will meet tomorrow to work on the finer details of the SOP and table it at the ministerial meeting on Monday,” he told a media briefing on the RMCO at the Putra World Trade Centre here today.Ismail Sabri, who is also the Defence Minister, said the SOP on Hari Raya Aidiladha, to be celebrated on July 31, would also be finalised and announced on Monday.

He said that since several new clusters involving ship crew members had been detected, the SOP with regard to this group would also be looked into.

"The technical committee will discuss and examine the SOP on the Aidiladha celebration as well as on the ship crew members who sign on and sign off… either when disembarking or before departure.

"We are worried about (COVID-19) infections during Raya Haji. If during Aidilfitri we had set a limit of no more than 20 guests, then for Aidiladha we will also set a limit.

"The police will monitor SOP compliance during the Aidiladha celebration, just like during Aidilfitri. If there is any SOP violation, arrests and action will be carried out on the spot,” he said.

Asked if the Sarawak government and the National Security Council (MKN) held any discussions on the need to implement Enhanced MCO (EMCO) in the state following an increase in COVID-19 infection cases there, Ismail Sabri said the state government would discuss the matter.

"A state-level (Sarawak) meeting will be held either tomorrow morning or on Monday, the decision (from that meeting) will be relayed to the (Federal) government and (the result of the meeting) we will gazette it in Act 342 (Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases Act 1988).

"...the Sarawak government may introduce a tighter SOP, InsyaAllah (we) will announce on Monday,” he said.

-- BERNAMA