The Chinese New Year SOP during the movement control order (2.0) has been revised to allow reunion dinners with family members staying within a 10km radius. The revision was announced by the National Unity Ministry today and was approved during the National Security Council chaired by Ismail Sabri Yaakob.
On Chinese New Year eve which falls on Thursday, 11th February 2021, reunion dinner of not more than 15 close family members that reside within a 10km radius will be permitted as long as it doesn’t involved interdistrict or interstate travel.
The authorities has also agreed to allow religious activities at houses of worship on the 11th, 12th and 19th February 2021. Strict SOPs must be followed which include restricting the number of attendees to not more than 30 people at a given time, wearing of face masks and social distancing. Each session should take 30 minutes followed by 30 minutes of sanitisation works before proceeding to the next session.
The permitted prayer hours are between 6.00am to 2.00pm. On the 19th February, prayers are allowed at the respective home compounds for Hokkien Chinese New Year celebration. Officers from the National Unity Ministry will be monitoring the situation.
Prior to this, the government had limited Chinese New Year celebrations only to those living in the same household. Home visits were not allowed and all forms of stage and cultural shows are also banned. The decision had received public backlash as the government had also announced the reopening of more business sectors including Pasar Malam, hair salons and car wash.
At the moment, Malaysia is still recording over 3,000 new COVID-19 cases daily. There are now a total of 242,452 cases and 872 deaths recorded so far.
[ SOURCE, IMAGE SOURCE ]
