MCO: Two people allowed on one car - Ismail Sabri

PUTRAJAYA, April 29 -- The government has given some leeway to the standard operating procedure of  phase four of the Movement Control Order (MCO) by allowing two people to travel in one vehicle, beginning today.

Senior Minister (Security Cluster) Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob said they must be people from one family living in the same house and the movement is to buy food and daily essential items.

“The Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases (Measures within Infected Local Areas) (No. 4) Regulations 2020 has been gazetted and enforced from April 29, 2020 until May 12, 2020,” he said in a press conference on the MCO here today.

Previously, only the household head was allowed to go out to buy food and daily essential items.

Permission for the movement is now for the purpose of buying daily essentials or to seek healthcare or medical services outside a 10-kilometre radius if the items or services are not available within 10 km of the individual’s home.

Commenting on allegations made by a lawyer that the MCO was not gazetted, Ismail Sabri said the government had gazetted all phases of the MCO from the beginning until now.

“If it is not gazetted, the police cannot take any action. The government has gazetted each (phase of the) MCO before it is enforced,” he said.

Ismail Sabri said several more leeways made to the current MCO will be announced soon.

He added that police arrested 643 people for violating the MCO yesterday, bringing the cumulative number of arrests to 21,749 people.

A total of 838 Malaysians returned to the country yesterday and placed under mandatory quarantine while 653 students from the northern zone will be sent home to within the same zone in 44 buses beginning this afternoon.

--BERNAMA