Six states won't reopen economies tomorrow

Six states will not be reopening their economies tomorrow and will maintain movement control order (MCO) restrictions.

These states are Sarawak, Sabah, Penang, Pahang, Kelantan and Kedah.

Penang will resume business on May 8 but will maintain other MCO restrictions, such as the barring of recreational activities until May 12.

Pahang, Kelantan and Kedah will discuss whether to reopen their economies later in the week.

The Johor government is expected to make a stand when the state security council meets tomorrow.

So far, Terengganu is the only state that has declared that it will be back for business beginning tomorrow.

At the time of writing, the position of the Malacca government is unclear.

Malacca Chief Minister Sulaiman Md Ali indicated yesterday that his state would be resuming business by sharing a list of still-banned activities on his Facebook page.

Perlis has since said it would implement the conditional MCO, and that measures would be reviewed from time to time.

Selangor, Perak and Negri Sembilan will resume business tomorrow. All three states will not allow dine-in customers.

Negri will maintain a ban on recreational activities while Perak is maintaining a ban on park visits.

Selangor will allow park visits but not to gyms, swimming pools and hiking trails.

List of banned activities during conditional MCO

On May 1, Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin announced that most economic activities that do not involve large gatherings will be allowed to resume operations tomorrow.

He termed this new regulation as a "conditional MCO", which is set to last until May 12 although it is subject to extensions.

Muhyiddin said all forms of economic activities must adopt guidelines set by the National Security Council to reduce the likelihood of further Covid-19 outbreaks.

However, state governments are allowed to tighten restrictions if deemed necessary.

Perak, Penang, Kedah and Kelantan have not had new Covid-19 cases for more than two weeks.

Senior Minister (security cluster) Ismail Sabri Yaakob had warned that the risk of Covid-19 infections may last up to two years. Therefore, Malaysians will have to adapt and get on with life.

Keep up with the latest information on the outbreak in the country with Malaysiakini's free Covid-19 tracker.

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