'Tightened' MCO for some areas and 9 news from yesterday

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

1. Movement restrictions have been tightened in three areas in Selayang and Chow Kit, but Defence Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob (above) said these are not under the enhanced movement control order because people are still allowed to enter and leave. This comes as the Kuala Lumpur Wholesale Market cluster emerges as the country’s fifth-largest Covid-19 cluster.

2. The government has lifted a curfew and would allow inter-district travel, but inter-state travel remains banned.

3. State governments asserted their right to impose additional restrictions and postpone the reopening of their economies, and several lawyers said this is within the right of the states to do so. International Trade and Industry Minister Azmin Ali said his warning that companies may sue over the matter is not a threat.

4. ‘Malaysia My Second Home’ (MM2H) pass holder Ratna Hartawan has found her family stranded abroad and running out of cash when the movement control order came into effect. Ismail Sabri said MM2H pass holders will be allowed to return, eventually.

5. The MACC is investigating several contracts awarded by the Health Ministry on direct negotiation basis as part of its Covid-19 response.

6. The daughter of Umno president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi - Nurulhidayah Ahmad Zahid - and her husband Saiful Nizam, have been fined RM800 each for breaching the movement control order. Reporters were not allowed to attend their court proceedings.

7. PKR president Anwar Ibrahim said long queues outside pawnshops are a sign that the nation has not progressed economically and socially in a decade, but the Malaysia Pawnbrokers Association said it is nothing unusual.

8. A Malaysian Covid-19 patient has become the first in Southeast Asia to try out the experimental antiviral drug Remdesivir, as part of a clinical trial to find a cure for the disease.

9. A global survey – which did not include Malaysia – finds that most people want their governments to prioritise health over wealth amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

10. It is hard for women politicians to make their mark in Malaysian politics, Pengerang MP Azalina Othman Said declared in an interview with Malaysiakini.