THE conditional movement control order (MCO) or easing of restrictions does not mean the partial lockdown has ended, said director-general of health Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah.

“We haven’t ended the MCO. The perception that we have stopped MCO is wrong.

“People think they can celebrate tomorrow because MCO has ended, but this is the wrong perception as the MCO is still in force,” he said at his daily Covid-19 briefing in Putrajaya today.

“What we have done is to ease certain restrictions in accordance with World Health Organisation criteria to end a lockdown,” he added.

Whether Malaysia ends its MCO, due to expire on May 12, still depends on the WHO guidelines, said Noor Hisham.

The director-general was commenting on whether he thought Malaysians had sufficient discipline to practise social distancing and good hygiene standards without an MCO.

He said countries such as Sweden and Taiwan did not resort to lockdowns because citizens there possessed a strong sense of social discipline and responsibility.

“Those countries did not need an MCO but only used SOPs in order to bring down their Covid-19 infections.”

The government has eased restrictions for most economic sectors ahead of the MCO’s expiry on May 12.

However, Noor Hisham said state governments are free to continue observing full restrictions under the MCO, if they are not ready to adopt the relaxations.

“States, companies or businesses who can’t follow the SOPs, can fall back under the MCO.

“The easing of conditions is only for those who can,” said Noor Hisham, referring to several states choosing not to follow the relaxed conditions that begin tomorrow, as announced by Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin on May 1.

The conditions are health and social distancing precautions that all businesses must adopt or face action by the authorities.

Kedah, Sabah, Sarawak and Pahang have announced they are not ready to adopt the relaxed conditions. Kelantan has said it will defer until it fine tunes rules and guidelines.

Selangor and Negri Sembilan will adopt the conditional MCO partially by restricting the number of businesses allowed to operate, while Penang said it would implement the conditions in phases. – May 3, 2020.