RMCO extended until 31 December 2020

Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin has announced an extension to the current Recovery Movement Control Order (RMCO). Initially scheduled to end on the 31st August 2020, the RMCO is now extended by four months until the 31st December 2020.

According to Muhyiddin, Malaysia is still facing COVID-19 threats from new clusters such as the Sivagangga, Tawar and Sala cluster. Such risks must be handled swiftly with stern action before it spreads widely.

The authorities are also strengthening border control by screening incoming individuals through mandatory 14-day quarantine. If there’s a surge of new cases at a locality, the government will impose Targeted Enhanced Movement Control Order (TEMCO) for affected areas.

The Prime Minister has agreed with the suggestion by the Ministry of Health to increase the compound for Infectious Diseases Act violators and the government is looking at increasing the compound by at least 2-3 times. The move to increase the compound would require further fine-tuning and amendments to Act 342.

He also mentions that the government is also looking at reducing the price of face masks with the intention to lighten the burden of the people. The Domestic, Trade and Consumer Affairs Ministry is currently in discussion with manufacturers and suppliers of face masks.

At the moment, night clubs and entertainment centres are still not permitted to reopen. Sports activities are allowed but without the involvement of international players and spectators. International tourists are still not allowed to enter during the RMCO.

While majority of business sectors have reopened under the RMCO, Malaysia has been recording mostly single-digit figures for new local daily cases in in the past week. However, the war against the pandemic is still far from over with WHO expecting COVID-19 to last for another 2 years.

Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah has urged the government to tighten entry into our borders as there’s an spike in new imported cases. Today, there are 10 new cases reported and 8 are imported cases.

Malaysia has recorded a total of 9,306 positive cases with 125 deaths as of today. A total of 9,030 patients have recovered and the recovery rate is currently 97.03% which is among the highest globally.

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