THE Yang di-Pertuan Agong wants all Malaysians to cooperate fully with the government’s efforts to contain the spread of Covid-19.

Al-Sultan Abdullah Ri’ayatuddin Al-Mustafa Billah Shah said a spirit of strong solidarity is important between the government and members of the public.

“Therefore, I welcome the government’s initiative in formulating the Community Empowerment Programme, which will involve the participation of local community leaders and members in reducing and curbing the spread of Covid-19 infections,” he said in his royal address on the programme.

“Furthermore, the ABC-19 initiative will also see the involvement of various entities coming together to empower local communities,” he added.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin said the implementation of the Covid-19 Eradicating Agent Programme (ABC-19) under the Community Empowerment Committee is a necessary measure to combat the pandemic.

He said while vaccinations are underway, it is also important that members of the public assist the government’s aim to vaccinate 80% of the adult population by February 2022.

As of March 28, 530,158 vaccination appointments have been given out. The number of registrations, meanwhile, stands at 7.23 million.

Under ABC-19, community-level committees will be established to empower local communities to curb the spread of Covid-19.

Through such committees, local leaders such as village headmen, religious leaders and village development committee members shall guide their community to undertake necessary and important safeguarding measures.

For example, the community leaders are responsible for monitoring the community’s activities and borders. Furthermore, they are expected to ensure that community members abide by the SOP through reminders and advise.

“Under the whole community approach, ABC-19 will involve government agencies, civil societies, and the communities using a training module which will be implemented nationwide,” said the prime minister.

According to Muhyiddin, as of March 23, 2021, 29,407 agency and community members have been involved in addressing about 1.325 million Malaysians through various programmes and 22,166 hotspots.

ABC-19 will assist various government agencies such as the Information Department and National Security Council in spreading Covid-19 awareness through health education programmes. – March 29, 2021.