Covid-19 special economic measures to be gazetted today and other news you may have missed
KINI ROUNDUP | Here are key headlines you may have missed, in brief.
1. The Temporary Measures for Reducing the Impact of Coronavirus Disease 2019 Act 2020 will be gazetted today. Among others, a special mediation centre will be set up to help settle contractual disputes for those economically affected by the pandemic, without having to go to court.
2. DAP parliamentarians criticised the government over its ‘confusing’ work-from-home directive, but Senior Minister (Defence Cluster) Ismail Sabri Yaakob defended his conduct at his daily press briefings.
3. Are you confused about the work-from-home directive too? Malaysiakini has produced a quick summary of what you need to know based on statements by the relevant authorities.
4. PAS central committee member Nik Abduh Nik Abdul Aziz praised God that the investigation on fellow committee member Khairuddin Aman Razali has been dropped and told Pakatan Harapan to move on to other issued. MCA said Khairuddin should not be let off the hook on a ‘technicality’, while Umno’s Mohd Puad Zarkashi said Khairuddin should know his moral responsibility regarding quarantine.
5. Umno supreme council member Annuar Musa denied that the party’s move to reaffirm support for Perikatan Nasional was a U-turn, but the party president Ahmad Zahid Hamidi was putting national interest above politics.
6. A special cabinet meeting today is expected to discuss the Covid-19 pandemic, as well as “support for the government”.
7. Political scientist Wong Chin Huat said Umno’s “political ceasefire” with Bersatu will not hold, describing them as “two rivals with the same love interest - Malay nationalist constituencies”.
8. As more schools closed over the Covid-19 pandemic, Health Ministry director-general Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah disclosed that more than 1,000 schoolchildren have been infected by the coronavirus since the beginning of the third wave of the outbreak last month.
9. Sabah Local Government and Housing Minister Masidi Manjun said some Covid-19 patients in the state are receiving treatment at home, but assured that there are still enough hospital and Quarantine and Low-risk Treatment Centre beds available.
10. In its draft proposal to reform the World Health Organisation, the European Union is nudging the WHO to become more transparent about how states report emerging health crises amid criticism of China’s early handling of Covid-19.
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