Health Ministry may allow bazaars if SOP followed, says D-G

Noel Achariam Noel Achariam Updated 4 years ago · Published on 31 Mar 2020 6:26PM · 10 Comments

Fire and Rescue Department personnel disinfecting an area in Kuala Lumpur today. The implementation aspect needs to be looked into before the green light is given to Ramadan bazaars in the capital, says the Health Ministry. – The Malaysian Insight pic by Nazir Sufari, March 31, 2020.

RAMADAN bazaars in the capital can proceed if all guidelines and social distancing rules set by the Health Ministry are followed, said Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah.

The Health director-general said the ministry may give its approval if the Federal Territories Ministry follows its standard operating procedures.

“Crowd control is important and, basically, we need to look into the implementation.

“(It can go on) as long as they follow our SOP (for people) to avoid contact, keep a good distance, wash their hands and control the whole area.

“Then, we will probably give the green light,” he said at the ministry’s daily press conference in Putrajaya today.

Federal Territories Minister Annuar Musa had earlier today said his ministry will work with the relevant parties before making an announcement soon on its decision to allow Ramadan bazaars.

“Just because Singapore or other parties have announced that there will be no bazaars this year, does not mean we will say the same thing,” Annuar had said in Putrajaya today.

He had said bazaars will not be cancelled but will be adjusted as the people, especially those living in cities, needed them.

When asked if it advisable to have the bazaar, Noor Hisham said they can operate like how markets do now.

“It is more important to practise social distancing, take precautionary measures and maintain good hygiene,” he said.

Annuar had earlier said Ramadan bazaars this year could be held with a maximum of 50 stalls in any one place, or even only 10 stalls that are spaced out.

“Whether the movement-control order (MCO) is continued or not, we will not carry on with the old way, which could cause health problems.

“We have to improve our lifestyle, not just through exercise and self-discipline during the MCO. There are many things we can learn and continue to practise post-MCO,” Noor Hisham said. – March 31, 2020.

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Comments

  • Get ready for the 4th wave then.

    Posted 4 years ago by Kinetica Cho · Reply

  • Nanti banyak kes lagi. Jamgan

    Posted 4 years ago by Penganalisa L · Reply

  • All bazaar shop operators and their helpers must be tested prior to being allowed to operate

    Posted 4 years ago by Philip Ting · Reply

  • What next, FT minister? KL people can go balik kampung for Raya as long as they observe the 1m social distancing on the highways, maybe?

    Posted 4 years ago by Sameon says... · Reply

  • we will do stupid things if bazaar ramadhan and/or bazaar aidil fitri to go ahead. For what..? without bazaar ramadhan the kueh mueh are still aplenty..there are restaurants selling such kueh mueh for sure...extra burden to frontline to control the crowd..defeat the purpose of PKP after weeks of hard work and sacrifice by the frontline..plse stop it any plan to go ahead...muslim people dont die during ramadhan just becoz of bazaar were not there this year...

    Posted 4 years ago by Khairuzzaman ABDULLAH · Reply

  • Instead of having a bazaar, why not allow vendors to operate like the morning breakfast nasi lemah stalls at different places in a housing estate.

    Posted 4 years ago by Citizen Pencen · Reply

  • The thoughts is welcome but knowing us Malaysian this is impossible, we are just asking for trouble and the burden would fall back to the nation frontlines at MOH. Please even if our graph has flatten take no changes for it to creep back. Its simply a NO NO

    Posted 4 years ago by Teruna Kelana · Reply

  • Brace ourselves for the new wave called Bazaar Cluster... it would have place all our MCO and EMCO and humongous frontliners' efforts to a waste, not to mention the taxpayer's billions spent.

    Posted 4 years ago by Michael Chong · Reply

  • Dear FT minister, why wait for Ramadan. Lets just resume our pasar malam, pasar tani etc. You can get you DBKL boys to monitor and make sure the public behaves. Ok?

    Posted 4 years ago by Sameon says... · Reply

  • We are asking for big trouble.. all the sacrifices todate of the people, the health ministry, front liners doctors and nurses etc and MOH DGs team efforts would hve gone to waste with the resultant tsunami wave, causing the nation to fall off the cliff in to a deep recession which would take years to recover

    Posted 4 years ago by Jon Lang · Reply