Surau in malls to reopen, 10pm lights out order revoked

Surau in shopping centres and highway rest areas will be opened from tomorrow onwards, said Defence Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob.

During his daily press briefing today, Ismail (above) said this was necessary as more people are visiting shopping centres and interstate travel will no longer be curbed beginning tomorrow.

"For those who need to pray, you must be disciplined. Practice social distancing and other SOPs," he said.

Ismail said food stalls and other businesses located in highway rest areas will also resume operations tomorrow.

Meanwhile, the closing hour for restaurants, food stalls, sundry shops, and convenience stores will be extended to midnight, from 10pm currently.

Zoos, too, would be allowed to reopen from tomorrow, subject to set SOPs.

Again, Ismail said these businesses must observe all forms of measures required to prevent the spread of Covid-19.

On whether music schools could resume business, Ismail replied in the negative and said the matter would be raised when the special cabinet meets again on Thursday.

The senior minister added that police would remove all roadblocks enforcing interstate travel as the ban will be lifted when the recovery MCO begins tomorrow.

However, he cautioned that roadblocks under other police operations would still be in place.

"The focus of police (and other authorities) now is to monitor compliance of SOPs at public and business premises," he said.

Meanwhile, he said while the borders would still be closed, the government would consider requests by Malaysians to travel abroad on a case-by-case basis.

"For Malaysians who want to leave the country, we have closed the borders. But we have received many applications, such as students, who need to return abroad to take exams and other cases.

"So we will allow certain cases, but they must obtain prior permission from the Immigration Department," he said.

Currently, only Malaysian citizens, their spouses with long-term social visit pass, diplomats stationed in the country, permanent and Malaysia My Second Home (MM2H) residents are permitted to enter the country.