Gov't mulls SOP to let students on campus return home
The government is mulling over a possible standard operating procedure for students who have been stuck on campus for over a month, to return home in an orderly manner.
Defence Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob said the goal is to ensure if students are allowed to leave campus, they would not do so in a mass exodus.
The government is mulling over a possible standard operating procedure for students who have been stuck on campus for over a month, to return home in an orderly manner.
Defence Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob said the goal is to ensure if students are allowed to leave campus, they would not do so in a mass exodus.
Speaking at a press conference in Putrajaya today, Ismail said that students had been on campus for more than 28 days, which is twice longer than the 14-day quarantine period for those returning from overseas.
"If they were quarantined for 14 days twice, and still show no symptoms, it can be assumed that they are not infected (with Covid-19)," he said.
However, if students are allowed to leave, they may still be subject to health screenings first.
The details, he said, are being sussed out by the Health Ministry together with the Higher Education Ministry.
Ismail did not give a timeline for when an SOP would be ready but stressed the government did not want a situation where 100,000 students would be travelling across the country at the same time.
He said the government also wanted to avoid situations where many might be crowding rest areas on their journey home, for example.
Meanwhile, he said the government is also seeking advice from the Health Ministry on allowing those who are back in their hometowns, to make a journey back to their places of residence.
"We know that being back in the kampung for over a month can cause anxiety," the senior minister said.
Meanwhile, Ismail said there has not been a massive influx of Malaysians returning to Johor from Singapore.
He said on average, there has only been about 400 returnees per day since April 18.
Johor he said, has more than enough quarantine rooms to accommodate the returnees.
He said there are currently 6,000 rooms at 22 quarantine centres available, and an additional 4,000 rooms were also being prepared.
On a related note, he said the Sultan Iskandar Building entryway at the Johor Causeway will only operate from 7am to 7pm starting Friday.
However, the Sultan Abu Bakar complex entrance at the second link will remain open 24 hours as usual.
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