More areas under enhanced MCO and 9 news from yesterday

KINI ROUNDUP | Here are key headlines you may have missed yesterday, in brief.

1. Residential areas near the Kuala Lumpur wholesale market have been placed under the enhanced movement control order after 28 Covid-19 cases, including one death, have been reported in the area.

2. Police escorted Batu MP P Prabakaran out of the newly locked-down area after an alleged argument with Deputy Federal Territories Minister Edmund Santhara. Edmund said he will address the matter at a press conference today.

3. Many residents were caught off-guard by the enhanced movement control order, including a man who returned home after serving time for violating the movement control order but could not enter his home.

4. For his 57th birthday today, Health Ministry director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah hopes Malaysians would continue to stay home and maintain high hygiene standards. Malaysia has recorded its lowest number of new Covid-19 cases since the movement control order began.

5. Noor Hisham expects the daily number of new Covid-19 cases to fall to single-digits next week, but warns against complacency as Malaysia prepares for its gradual shift to a “new normal”.

6. Deputy Health Minister Dr Noor Azmi Ghazali has apologised after being caught taking part in a group meal while visiting a tafhiz school in Perak, while police questioned Terengganu Mentri Besar Ahmad Samsuri Mokhtar for allegedly breaching the movement control order.

7. Cheras MP Tan Kok Wai claimed that 750 packs of food earmarked for the poor in his constituency have been sitting in a hall for two weeks and are still waiting to be distributed.

8. Pakatan Harapan and Perikatan Nasional leaders continue to point fingers at each other for supposedly failing to stop the Sri Petaling tabligh gathering from taking place, this time with former prime minister Najib Abdul Razak clashing with former federal territories minister Khalid Samad.

9. Former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad, who is chairperson of Bersatu, confirmed that he will be sitting in the opposition bench when Parliament reconvenes on May 18 – possibly the first time a political party would have members sitting on both sides of the House.

10. Illegal farming has been blamed for the ongoing forest fire that has razed 80 hectares of a forest reserve near Kuala Langat, Selangor.