Covid-19: Malaysia still under CMCO/ RMCO; only Keningau and Tawau, Sabah under MCO

The Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases (Declaration of Infected Local Areas) Order 2020 whereby all States and Federal Territories of Malaysia were declared as infected areas of the Covid-19 disease for the period 1 January 2021 to 31 March 2021 was extended to 1 August 2021 with the coming into force of the Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases (Declaration of Infected Local Areas) (Extension of Operation) Order 2021 (“Extension of Operation Order”) on 1 April 2021.
 
Following from the Extension of Operation Order: 
 
  1. the Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases (Measures within Infected Local Areas) (Conditional Movement Control) (No. 4) (Amendment) (No. 6) Regulations 2021 (‘CMCO No. 4 Amendment No. 6 Regulations’) were gazetted on 1 April 2021 and came into force on the same day; and
  1. the Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases (Measures within Infected Local Areas) (Movement Control) (No. 4) (Amendment) (No. 5) Regulations 2021 (‘MCO No. 4 Amendment No. 5 Regulations’) and the Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases (Measures within Infected Local Areas) (Recovery Movement Control) (No. 3) (Amendment) (No. 7) Regulations 2021 (‘RMCO No. 3 Amendment No. 7 Regulations’) were gazetted on 3 April 2021 and came into force on the same day.
MCO No. 4 Amendment No. 5 Regulations
 
The MCO No. 4 Amendment No. 5 Regulations replace the First Schedule of the Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases (Measures within Infected Local Areas) (Movement Control) (No. 4) Regulations 2021 (“MCO No. 4 Regulations”) and provide that the districts of Keningau and Tawau, Sabah are subjected to a movement control order. The effective period for Keningau is from 1 April 2021 to 4 April 2021 and the effective period for Tawau is from 3 April 2021 to 16 April 2021.
 
The districts of Keningau and Tawau in Sabah are now the only two areas in Malaysia that are subjected to a movement control order. The district of Nabawan, Sabah which was previously subjected to a movement control order is now placed under a recovery movement control order. The district of Tawau, Sabah which was previously subjected to a recovery movement control order is now placed under a movement control order due to the recent significant increase in local recorded Covid-19 cases.
 
CMCO No. 4 Amendment No. 6 Regulations
 
The CMCO No. 4 Amendment No. 6 Regulations replace the First Schedule of the Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases (Measures within Infected Local Areas) (Conditional Movement Control) (No. 4) Regulations 2021. The substituting First Schedule provides that the following infected local areas are subjected to a conditional movement control order -
 
 1.   the State of Johore;
2.   the State of Kelantan;
3.   the State of Penang;
4.   the State of Sarawak;
5.   the State of Selangor;
6.   the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur;
7.   the district of Kuala Muda, Kedah; and
8.   the district of Seremban, Negeri Sembilan,
 
from 1 April 2021 to 14 April 2021 except for the State of Sarawak where the effective period is from 30 March 2021 to 12 April 2021.
 
The district of Kulim, Kedah which was previously subjected to a conditional movement control order is now placed under a recovery movement control order.
 
Senior Minister (Security Cluster) Dato’ Sri Ismail Sabri Yaakob, announced on 30 March 2021 that effective 1 April 2021, manufacturing companies in areas subjected to a conditional movement control order are allowed to operate at full capacity.1 Such companies were previously allowed to have only 30% of their employees in the management and supervisory roles to work in the office. To give effect to the foregoing, the Ministry of International Trade and Industry had on 31 March 2021, updated its Standard Operating Procedures for manufacturing companies operating in areas subjected to a conditional movement control order. 2
 
RMCO No. 3 Amendment No. 7 Regulations
 
The RMCO No. 3 Amendment No. 7 Regulations replace the First Schedule of the Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases (Measures within Infected Local Areas) (Recovery Movement Control) (No. 3) Regulations 2021 (“RMCO No. 3 Regulations”) The substituting First Schedule provides that the following infected local areas are subjected to a recovery movement control order -
 
 1.   the State of Malacca;
2.   the State of Pahang;
3.   the State of Perak;
4.   the State of Perlis;
5.   the State of Terengganu;
6.   the State of Kedah except for the district of Kuala Muda;
7.   the State of Negeri Sembilan except for the district of Seremban;
8.   the State of Sabah except for the districts of Keningau and Tawau;
9.   the Federal Territory of Putrajaya; and
10. the Federal Territory of Labuan,
 
from 1 April 2021 to 14 April 2021.
 
Comments
 
The country’s fight against the Covid-19 pandemic is far from over as the country is still recording four-digit new Covid-19 cases daily and the number of active Covid-19 cases is still in the five-digit range. However, it is comforting that most parts of Malaysia are now placed under a conditional movement control order or a recovery movement control order and only two districts in Sabah is placed under a movement control order.
 
Notes

Our earlier Alerts on the movement control measures in Malaysia are available here, here, here and here.
 
Alert prepared by Tan Wei Liang (Associate) and Tai Kean Lynn (Associate) of Skrine.
 
1 ‘Govt to revoke work from home order for factories on April 1, says Ismail Sabri’, The Star Online, 30 March 2021
2 The SOPs are available here.