Police: Interstate travel for social events and weddings banned until after Hari Raya Aidilfitri festive season

The police reiterated that interstate travel is only allowed for work, emergency, death in close family, medical and education reasons, and for long-distance spouses.

Amid the recent spike of COVID-19 cases, they insisted that travel for social events such as weddings remain banned until after the Aidilfitri festive season.

“Those who do not comply will face strict action,” Deputy Inspector-General of Police Datuk Seri Acryl Sani Abdullah Sani said in a statement.

He added that travel will only be approved for the days of Monday to Thursday, except in cases of emergency, death, or involving long distance spouses.

On the matter of lack of compliance with COVID-19 standard operating procedures (SOPs) at Ramadan bazaars and night markets, Acryl Sani said that all district police chiefs and monitoring teams will be mobilised to keep an eye on relevant locations.

“If it is found that SOPs are not complied with, the police will submit a recommendation to local authorities that the business activities in the area are stopped,” he warned.

On April 16, daily COVID-19 cases spiked to 2,551; the highest it has been after daily cases dropped to below the 2,000 case mark from early March and onwards.

Besides the spike, there are also fears that bazaars and markets may increase the chance of the spreading of foreign variants of the COVID-19 virus — such as the South African B.1.125 variant. — Malay Mail