MCO restrictions relaxed and 9 news from yesterday

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

1. A relaxed restriction under the fourth phase of the movement control order now allows two members of the same household to go out together to buy necessities. However, this does not apply to Sabah.

2. The Health Ministry will monitor the economic sector for two to four weeks before proposing whether to reopen schools, while the National Security Council weighs procedures for reopening childcare centres as more parents are recalled to work.

3. Desperate locals risk running afoul of the law in the enhanced movement control area in Selayang Baru by passing over basic necessities across razor-wire fences. They seem to be unaware of how to get help from the government’s operations centre.

4. Defence Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob denied double standards in sentencing Deputy Health Minister Noor Azmi Ghazali and Perak exco member Razman Zakaria for violating the movement control order, but lawyer Syahredzan Johan said the minister shouldn’t downplay it as “just a breach” in standard operating procedures.

5. In an interview, PKR president Anwar Ibrahim denied being beholden to becoming prime minister, and said he has no hard feelings against his former deputy Azmin Ali’s ‘treacherous’ acts against Pakatan Harapan.

6. With the food and beverage industry classified as an essential service, the Malaysia Singapore Coffee Shop Proprietors’ General Association has asked the government to clarify whether being allowed to conduct ‘full operations’ would mean they could serve dine-in customers at least on a ‘one customer per table’ basis.

7. A Covid-19 survivor recounts facing trauma and stigma after his identity was exposed.

8. Police officer Inspector Hazrul Hizham Ghazali claimed trial to charges of trafficking two Mongolian women for sex. Later in the day, the Petaling Jaya police announced that a police inspector - whose name was withheld - will face nine charges of raping two Mongolian women today.

9. Health Ministry director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah said mutations have been detected in the Covid-19 virus in the country, which may have made it more infectious, involving 120 people in a cluster that includes Case 26.

10. The experimental drug remdesivir shows promise in treating patients with Covid-19 when administered early. Unlike previously announced results that didn’t have a control group, the new data comes from comparing patients who were given the drug versus those who didn’t receive it.