THE government is working on a plan to allow 100,000 university students confined to the campuses to go home safely, said Senior Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob. 

The National Security Council spokesman, who is also the defence minister, said discussions were ongoing between the security, health and education authorities to plot the students’ return to their respective hometowns while the movement control order (MCO) is in force.

The students were ordered to stay on campus when the MCO was enforced n March 18.

“They have been on campus for more than 28 days, or twice the 14-day incubation period (of the Covid-19 virus).  So there is the possibility they can go home.

“But we need an SOP (standard operating procedure). We don’t want all 100,000 students to move at the same time,” he told a daily press conference on Covid-19, in Putrajaya.

“Mainly, we don’t want mass movement because there are many things that cannot be controlled, such as unscheduled stops at R&Rs (rest areas), toilet visits and such where people will meet. 

“We have discussed the possibilities of how the disease may spread.” 

The students will be screened for the virus before they go home, he said. 

He said there is no indication of infection in any of the campuses. 

He said the government was aware of the students’ anxiety at being away from home at such a time.

He said a similar coordinated plan is under consideration for moving the people who had returned to their villages before the MCO and are now stuck there back to the city. – April 21, 2020.