Malaysia’s Recovery Movement Control Order (RMCO), which is applied to fight COVID-19 in the country, has been extended to 31 December.

Malaysian Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin announced the decision in a recent televised speech, adding that based on latest developments, more time would be needed to free Malaysia from the pandemic. The RMCO phase was originally scheduled to end on 31 August.

He said even though the number of new cases in the country has fallen, the virus is still raging globally.

The PM noted if there is an increase in cases in certain Malaysian locations, the government will take a targeted approach by implementing enhanced movement control order as previously enforced in several locations.

Muhyiddin expressed his support for the Ministry of Health to increase the fines for those who break these laws, to twice or thrice the current amounts.

The Malaysia government imposed the Movement Control Order (MCO) on 18 March after it reported a spike of 125 new COVID-19 infections, making Malaysia the worst hit in Southeast Asia at the time. The stringent phase of the MCO then transitioned into a conditional phase on May 1 before the RMCO began on 10 June.

Source: VNA