By Geryl Ogilvy
KUCHING, April 30: Supermarkets and other business premises have been told to adhere to strict standard operating procedures (SOP) to ensure customers comply with the movement control order (MCO).
This follows the government’s decision to allow two people from the same household to travel in one vehicle to buy food and other essential items, said Senior Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob.
He added that the SOP at supermarkets and other business premises must be maintained. For people travelling in pairs, he advised the driver to remain in the vehicle, while the other person enters the targeted business outlet.
“When the government decided to relax the MCO by allowing two persons from the same household to travel together in one vehicle, several factors were considered, considering that the (daily number) Covid-19 cases have decreased.
“During the first implementation of the MCO, we received a lot of complaints from the public about the difficulty of having only one person in a vehicle. For big cities such as Kuala Lumpur, some cited parking as the main issue.
“There are also those, the husbands, who state concerns of needing to send the wife to work as she does not have a driving licence,” he told a media briefing to provide daily MCO updates in Putrajaya today.
Ismail Sabri said supermarkets and other business premises must maintain SOPs such as social distancing, and limiting the maximum number of customers in the premises at one time, among other measures.
“Of course, they must avoid congestion on the premises. This might lead to longer queues or waiting time but the SOPs must be maintained at all cost,” he added.
The leeway of allowing two persons to travel in one vehicle was announced yesterday and gazetted under the Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases (Measures within Infected Local Areas) (No. 2) Regulations 2020, to be enforced between April 29 and May 12, this year.
Previously, only the head of the household was allowed to go out to buy food and daily essentials.
It is now permitted for two persons from a family to go out on errands or to seek healthcare or medical services beyond a 10-kilometre radius if the items or services are not available within 10km of the individual’s home. — DayakDaily
