Public transport operating hours extended by an hour during Ramadan under MCO
UPDATED 4.23PM | Added additional comments from Ismail Sabri on Ramadan hours and status of MCO checks and arrests.
CORONAVIRUS | Daily public transport hours have been extended by another hour from tomorrow in order to accommodate workers leaving work earlier to buy food to break their fast as well as to prepare for sahur (predawn meal) during the movement control order (MCO) period.
In announcing this, Defence Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob said the additional one hour would extend the afternoon to night public transport hours from 4pm to 10pm daily...
- UPDATED 4.23PM | Added additional comments from Ismail Sabri on Ramadan hours and status of MCO checks and arrests.
CORONAVIRUS | Daily public transport hours have been extended by another hour from tomorrow in order to accommodate workers leaving work earlier to buy food to break their fast as well as to prepare for sahur (predawn meal) during the movement control order (MCO) period.
In announcing this, Defence Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob said the additional one hour would extend the afternoon to night public transport hours from 4pm to 10pm daily.
In the previous standard operating procedure (SOP) for public transport hours during the non-Ramadan MCO period, the operating hours were from 6am to 10am and 5pm to 10pm.
“Previously, in terms of public transport, the (operating hours in the afternoon) were from 5pm to 10pm. (Beginning the first day of Ramadan tomorrow), there is one additional hour, making it 4pm to 10pm.
“During previous fasting months, civil servants and other workers are allowed to go back earlier from the usual hours, usually half an hour earlier.
“So we add an additional hour, so it will be 4pm to 10pm,” Ismail said during a press conference from Putrajaya which was live-streamed online this afternoon.
The minister said that in regards to the operating hours of markets, there are people who need to buy fresh produce for breakfast and for sahur.
“If previously markets close at 12pm (during MCO), it is now extended to (closing at) 2pm, to make it easier for the people to go to the market to buy food to breakfast and sahur,” he said.
Ismail, however, said that the SOP for other matters such as business operating hours remain the same just like in the previous weeks of the MCO.
Later during question and answer session with the media, Ismail said the government will maintain the same SOP for eateries operating hours during the fasting month of the MCO period.
He said this is necessary to prevent too much mass movement during the fasting month while MCO is still in force, and may lead to an increase in non-compliance with MCO.
“Many are ‘panjang akal’ (clever). When we say up to 10pm, those who have no intention to buy items would also go out with the excuse to buy items for sahur and so on.
“Within two hours, we can imagine how many would go out (nationwide). This would present difficulty to the police at roadblocks because of their excuse of needing to go to a restaurant to buy food.
“Hence the reason we maintain the (business operating) hours that we previously fixed. If one wishes to buy food for sahur, then please buy earlier,” Ismail said.
Earlier at the beginning of the press conference, Ismail said that as of yesterday, the police and the armed forces have checked 581,942 vehicles at 835 roadblocks nationwide.
He also said 41,184 spot checks were carried out nationwide and that 6,658 premises were inspected by the authorities.
Ismail added that the police arrested 763 individuals for MCO-violation yesterday, which is fewer compared with 865 arrests the previous day.
He noted that with the trend of decreasing arrests for MCO-flouting over the past two or three days may be an indication of an increased awareness among the people to abide by MCO.
Ismail Sabri said that out of the total of arrests linked to MCO-violation yesterday, 648 individuals were remanded and 115 individuals released on police bail.
He added that 860 individuals were also charged at court yesterday, with the total cumulative arrests for MCO-violation being at 18,498 individuals as of yesterday.
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