In his latest announcement, Prime Minister, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin reminded Malaysians to constantly obey SOPs. While the government realises the best method to curb the infection is by implementing a total lockdown, they know that by doing so the nation’s economy will be severely impacted.
Here’s a summary of some points that needed to be highlighted from the PM’s speech:
1. Employers should not force employees who are undergoing quarantine to come to work as this will endanger everyone.
2. The Government will not hesitate to take stern action against any party that violates the rules or SOPs in force.
Emergency Declaration
1. A Technical Committee on Emergency Management was established to ensure emergency implementation in the fight against Covid-19 can be managed efficiently and effectively.
2. The government has used the Emergency Ordinance to curb the spread of Covid-19. These include amendments to several existing Acts, the acquisition of important national assets, and the restructuring of human resources for the purpose of faster, more efficient, and effective Covid-19 management.
Some of the amendments to existing acts include:
- Immediate closure instructions for business premises that do not comply with the rules and SOP
- Legal action against business owners, franchisees, franchise operators, and other stakeholders in the business
- Legal action against the foreign worker management chains
- Higher compound fines against repeat offenders
- Imprisonment of offenders
- Disciplinary action against civil servants who do not comply with rules and SOPs including to the Head of Department regarding the implementation of the WFH policy.
Foreign workers not having proper accommodation was the one main causes of Covid-19 spreading among workers, thus the government is in the process of amending the Minimum Standards for Housing, Accommodation, and Facilities of Employees Act 1990 or Act 446. This obligates employers to:
- provide accommodation that meets the set standards
- implement monitoring measures on foreign workers while working on the premises
- bear the cost of accommodation, relocation, and employee health screening costs
Healthcare reaching a breaking point
1. Covid-19 hospitals including Intensive Care Unit wards have almost reached 100% capacity.
2. Through the Emergency Ordinance 2021 private health facilities can be temporarily outsourced by the government.
3. For the purpose of reducing the pressure on government hospitals responsible for treating Covid-19 patients, the Ministry of Health Malaysia has begun working with 31 private hospitals to outsource treatment of some non-Covid-19 patients to these private hospitals. The Ministry of Health Malaysia has allocated a total of RM 27 million in 2021 for this purpose.
Enhancing enforcement
1. Under the Emergency Ordinance 2021, police power has been delegated to the Malaysian Armed Forces to make arrests, inspections, and seizures while assisting agencies others perform illegal immigrants prevention duties and Covid prevention operations.
2. 3 million RELA members have been instructed to assist in SOP enforcement tasks at business premises and public places.
Biggest Immunisation Program In The Country’s History
1. The first delivery of the Covid-19 vaccine involves vaccines produced by Pfizer and BioNTech which have shown a high effectiveness rate of 95 per cent.
2. The Government will start the roll-out of the implementation of the National Covid-19 Immunization Program from the end of this month targetting 80 per cent of the country’s population or 26.5 million individuals.
3. This will involve three phases. The first phase will involve a total of 500,000 frontline staff comprising health and non-health personnel. The second phase (April to August 2021) will involve high-risk groups infected with Covid-19. They are the elderly and vulnerable people aged 60 and above, who suffer from morbidity problems such as heart disease, obesity, diabetes, and high blood pressure including people with disabilities (OKU). For the third phase (May 2021 to February 2022), the remaining vaccine recipients are adults aged 18 years and above.
4. To ensure that this immunisation program is implemented properly, the Cabinet has agreed to appoint Khairy Jamaluddin, Minister of Science, Technology, and Innovation as the Coordinating Minister for the National Covid-19 Immunisation Program. He will lead a Special Task Force that manages the implementation of the National Covid-19 Immunisation Program in particular issues related to logistics and coordination with states and Government agencies.
Respecting the Agong in terms of the Emergency Declaration
1. The PM reminded Malaysians to stop throwing baseless accusations against the concern of His Majesty the Yang di-Pertuan Agong in approving the Emergency Proclamation.
“I would like to reiterate my commitment that I will advise His Majesty the Yang di-Pertuan Agong to dissolve Parliament as soon as the outbreak of Covid-19 has subsided and the General Election is safe to hold.”
You can read the PM’s full speech here!
Let us know what you think about the PM’s latest announcement!
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