Penang will move into Phase 2 of the national recovery plan on Wednesday after achieving the required thresholds, said Defence Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob.

According to Ismail Sabri, the National Security Council had determined Penang had achieved the three main threshold value indicators to move to Phase 2, including 9.5 cases per 100,000 people for seven days (below the threshold value of 12.2 cases), while at least 10% of the state’s adult population had been vaccinated.

On Saturday, Tengku Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz. announced that Kelantan, Terengganu, Pahang, Perak and Perlis had met all three indicators required to move to Phase 2 and will do so today.

The finance minister said the decision was made based on the average number of daily cases according to the state’s population, the capacity of beds in the intensive care units (ICU) and the number of people in the state that have been vaccinated.

“It’s fairer, especially to the state governments that have worked hard to fulfil all three indicators,” said Tengku Zafrul at a joint press conference with Ismail Sabri.

According to the plan, the country will reopen in four phases based on three indicators, the number of daily Covid-19 cases, the number of people who are fully vaccinated and the state of the healthcare system, which must no longer be critical.

Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin had originally said Malaysia would only transition into Phase 2 once the average number of cases drops to 4,000 a day, the health system is no longer at a critical level and Intensive Care Unit (ICU) bed use is reduced to a moderate level and 10% of the population is vaccinated. – July 5, 2021.