We had previously issued updates on the relaxations announced by the Malaysian Government to the prohibitions and restrictions under the
Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases (Measures within Infected Local Areas) (No. 7) Regulations 2020 (‘RMCO Regulations’) for the period 10 June 2020 to 31 August 2020 (‘RMCO Period’). Our Alert on the RMCO Regulations and the earlier updates are available
here,
here and
here.
The Government has subsequently announced further relaxations to the prohibitions and restrictions under the RMCO Regulations. We summarise below the salient points of these relaxations –
Reopening of pools and water-related activities[1]
All public as well as private swimming pools at hotels, gated residences, apartments, and condominiums are allowed to reopen from 1 July 2020. Senior Minister (Security Cluster), Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob, announced that swimming pool operators must notify the Ministry of International Trade and Industry of the reopening of their swimming pools and that lifeguards must be stationed at swimming pools to ensure that the number of people in the swimming pool is controlled at all times.
Water-related activities at lakes, rivers, and sea are allowed to reopen from 1 July 2020 subject to adherence to the relevant standard operating procedures (‘SOPs’). Water theme parks remain in the List of Prohibited Activities and are not allowed to reopen during the RMCO Period.
Reopening of cinemas
All cinemas nationwide are allowed to reopen from 1 July 2020.
[2] The
SOPs for the cinema subsector issued by the Ministry of Communications and Multimedia on 24 June 2020 provide, among others, that patrons above 60 years of age and children 12 years of age and below are not allowed to enter the cinema hall and that cinema operators are required to record and keep information of its staff and patrons such as the date, time, name, e-mail address and contact number for purposes of contact tracing.
Annual general meeting
All organisations, including political parties, sports bodies and corporations, are now allowed to hold their annual general meeting from 1 July 2020 subject to strict adherence to the relevant SOPs.
[3]
The
SOPs for the organisation of functions by the government and private sector issued by the National Security Council (‘NSC’) provide, among others, that the maximum number of attendees is 250 attendees depending on the size of the hall and that social distancing must be observed at all times.
Social events
Social events, including reunions, wedding receptions, engagement parties, and religious events can now be held from 1 July 2020 subject to adherence to the relevant SOPs.
[4] The
SOPs for the organisation of social events issued by the NSC provide, amongst others that the maximum number of attendees is 250 attendees depending on the size of the venue and that social events are only allowed to be held for a maximum duration of five hours.
Reopening of borders to healthcare travellers
The Government announced on 25 June 2020
[5] that Malaysia will reopen its borders to healthcare travellers in phases. According to Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob, healthcare travellers are only allowed to enter the country via air travel under phase 1 of the reopening of the country’s borders to healthcare travellers.
The Senior Minister added that under phase 1A, only medical evacuations are allowed including patients who require treatment in the intensive care unit or the high dependency unit and under phase 1B, healthcare travellers with serious illnesses such as cancer or heart disease will be allowed to enter the country.
Alert prepared by Tan Wei Liang (Associate) of Skrine.