MoH is currently preparing and finalising the SOPs before announcing the guidelines, the NRC chairman says

by S BIRRUNTHA / pic by MUHD AMIN NAHARUL

THE standard operating procedures (SOPs) on the reopening of the country’s border is expected to be announced soon.

National Recovery Council (NRC) chairman Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin said the Health Ministry (MoH) is currently preparing and finalising the SOPs before announcing the guidelines.

He added that despite the country’s increasing number of Covid-19 positive cases and rising hospital admissions, the strategy implemented by the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme (NCIP) as well as inoculation of booster doses have shown effectiveness in providing protection against more severe infections of the virus.

“The council listened to a presentation by Health Minister Khairy Jamaluddin Abu Bakar on the situation and the latest developments of Covid-19 today (Feb 22),” he said in a press conference after chairing the NRC meeting in Putrajaya yesterday.

Muhyiddin said the SOPs should be simple and accommodating to everyone, which includes quarantine protocols such as frequent self-testing, in addition to allowing only limited flights.

Following that, Muhyiddin also hoped that MoH and the agencies involved would look at the issue of border reopening comprehensively by taking into account all aspects so that problems would not arise.

He emphasised that further delay in reopening the international borders will cause the country to continue to lose and lag behind, as those that started administering Covid-19 vaccine much later than Malaysia have opened their borders.

“Earlier, they (the government) were informed to take into account what was decided in this meeting and the council has reiterated that the reopening should be expedited.

“We should not delay this anymore because the country has to bear huge costs every day. There is a lot we can do by opening the borders quickly.

“Australia, which is still lagging behind in terms of vaccination, has opened its borders today (Feb 22),” he said. On another matter, Muhyiddin said the National Recovery Plan 2.0 (NRP 2.0) would help the country’s economic sub-sectors affected by the pandemic to rebound and return to the pre-pandemic era.

He added that although the recovery process showed a positive trend, the performance of economic subsectors such as hospitality and food and beverage in 2020 were significantly lower than the previous year.

Therefore, he said, the NRP 2.0 must be completed immediately to accelerate the country’s recovery process.

Additionally, Muhyiddin noted that Malaysia’s recovery process is showing positive signals, as the country’s GDP registered a growth of 3.1% in 2021 compared to a contraction of 5.6% in 2020.

“The transition of all states into Phase 4 under NRP 1.0 has also reduced the country’s employment rate to 4.2%.

“In addition, the reopening of the economic sectors in a safe and systematic manner saw Malaysia’s total trade hitting RM2 trillion with more than RM50 billion in foreign direct investments,” he said.

The NRC has also considered proposals by the British Malaysian Chamber of Commerce on the development, recruitment and retention of talents to attract more foreign investment to the country.

Muhyiddin said the proposals would help in increasing the country’s productivity as well as encourage more private-public corporations.

The council also agreed to emphasise efforts to manage the impact of inflation and the increasing cost of living faced by Malaysians based on a sentiment survey by Malaysia Institute of Economic Research.

Commenting further, Muhyiddin said a special team would be formed for the implementation of NRP 2.0, assisted by consultants.

The new plan is expected to be completed within three to six months, before it is submitted to the government for consideration and approval.

“We believe that NRP 2.0 will outline the timeline for us to move forward to revive and restore all sectors affected by the Covid-19 pandemic,” he said.