PUTRAJAYA: Effective May 1, the wearing of face masks in outdoor settings and open areas will no longer be compulsory, but optional, Minister of Health Khairy Jamaluddin (pic) announced.
However, it will remain compulsory in indoor settings and in public transport, including e-hailing vehicles, he said when announcing the relaxation of the preventive and control measures of Covid-19 in line with the transition to the endemic phase in Malaysia, Wednesday.
“The Ministry of Health (MOH) encourages the wearing of face masks in outdoor settings to continue to be practised, especially in crowded areas such as Ramadan bazaar, night markets and stadiums.
“The wearing of face masks in outdoor settings and open areas are optional, but highly encouraged as the face masks can reduce the risk of infection,” he said.
Khairy said the wearing of face masks, however, remains compulsory in indoor settings, such as shopping malls, as actions can be taken under the Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases Act 1988 [Act 342] against individuals who failed to comply with the regulation.
He said the face masks can be removed if the person is alone, eating, drinking, delivering a speech or performing a show.
Khairy said the Standard Operating Procedure on physical distancing among individuals and groups is also unnecessary now as all activities have been allowed with 100 per cent use of space capacity.
“However, physical distancing is encouraged in the settings where everyone is not wearing face masks.”
Scanning of the QR code using the MySejahtera application, which is the standard operating procedure (SOP) to check-in at premises, is also no longer mandatory from May 1.
However, the management of the premises concerned should check the risk status of individuals entering the premises through their respective MySejahtera application to ensure those with “High Risk” status, which is a positive case of Covid-19 and those placed under Home Surveillance Order (HSO) were prevented from entering.
Individuals are allowed to enter any premises regardless of their vaccination status.
“Those who are positive for Covid-19, despite having complete vaccination status are still not allowed to enter the premises.
“They include individuals in the HSO period, as well as travellers without complete vaccinations who just arrived in Malaysia,” he said and advised the public to activate their MySJ Trace function for contact detection.
Khairy said the MySejahtera application was still important to be used, among others, for the purpose of reporting the results of Covid-19 detection test and HSO instruction, as well as assisting the Health Ministry (MOH) in the prevention and control of Covid-19.
He said the HotspotTracker function, previously used to track the hotspot area of Covid-19 cases, will now be changed to Infectious Disease Tracker to see the hotspot area of other diseases such as rabies (mad dog disease), measles, hand, foot & mouth disease (HFMD) and dengue.
