Businesses left confused, only hours to prepare for new SOP for new MCO

Senior Defence Minister, Ismail Sabri, has forewarned Malaysians that the Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) for the reinstated Movement Control Order (MCO) will be different from the first round of MCO first applied back in March 2020.

The new SOP for reinstated MCO (covers 5 states, 3 federal territories) from 13 January to 26 January 2021 will only be announced at 5 pm on 12 January 2021 during Ismail Sabri’s daily security briefing. This is bad news for businesses as they are only given hours to respond to MCO procedures. MCO will kick into effect from 12.01 am 13 January 2021.

Yesterday, Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin announced that MCO will be reinstated in 5 states and 3 federal territories, namely Penang, Johor, Melaka, Selangor, Sabah, Kuala Lumpur, Putrajaya, and Labuan.

The decision was made following the continuously high infection rate of the Covid-19 pandemic in the country. Muhyiddin disclosed that the health system was near “breaking point” and is unable to keep up with the number of infected patients.