THE Ministry of Youth and Sports said it will appeal the government’s decision to ban all outdoor and sporting activities under the third movement control order (MCO 3.0), which began in six Selangor districts yesterday and in Kuala Lumpur today.

“Youth and Sports Minister Reezal Merican Naina Merican will be bringing up a few suggestions from the ministry with regards to a more appropriate approach when it comes to sports and recreation at the National Security Council (NSC) meeting this evening,” the ministry said on Facebook today.

The ministry said it has received feedback from the public about the ban and, while there is a need to curb the spread of Covid-19, it should not come at the cost of the people’s physical health.

Yesterday, the NSC made the decision to ban all outdoor and sports activities without specific permission for areas subject to the MCO, quoting risk analysis by the Ministry of Health.

Earlier today, Bangi MP Ong Kiang Ming suggested that instead of a blanket ban the government should study the data from its new Covid-19 hotspot identification technology before making such decisions.

He was referring to the Hotspot Identification for Dynamic Engagement (HIDE) technology developed to identify Covid-19 hotspots for measures to be taken to prevent hotspots from becoming virus clusters.

“Since a new hotspot identification system has been developed by and is now being applied, I call upon the authorities to use the past MySejahtera data (assuming it has been stored properly and not deleted) to identify how many clusters were created as a result of outdoor jogging and exercise.”

Ong said the same could be applied to watching films in cinemas and exercising in gyms.

“If the number of clusters is not large, which I think will be the case, then the NSC should immediately reverse the ban on outdoor jogging and exercise, and allow gyms and cinemas to reopen with the already strict standard operating procedure in place,” he said in a statement today. – May 7, 2021.