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PM: Updated SOPs For Fully-Vaccinated Individuals To Be Announced Within Next Few Days

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An interesting article about Penang Malaysia.

Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin revealed during a special interview with the media yesterday that an updated list of SOPs for fully-vaccinated individuals will be announced in the next few days. This is following his previous announcement on 17 July, where he confirmed that the National Recovery Council will decide on the aforementioned easing of restrictions within this week.

Muhyiddin said the relaxation of the SOPs will include travel to Malaysia, inter-state movement for spouses who are working separately, social and sporting activities, as well as dine-ins at restaurants. “We will finalise (the details) and I will announce it as a total package,” he said during the interview. “I do hope that this (relaxation) will give room or space, breathing space, for the people to live a slightly better life,” he said.

The prime minister noted that the decision would be in line with the transitioning of Malaysian states into Phase Two of the National Recovery Plan (PPN) and the reopening of more economic sectors, especially in the Klang Valley. Further discussions on the progress of the PPN will be tabled by Muhyiddin during the Special Meeting of the Third Session of the 14th Parliament tomorrow on 25 July 2021.

covid vaccination card and certificate

By right, we should also be expecting details on how authorities will be able to officially identify fully-vaccinated individuals in order for them to enjoy the relaxed restrictions. While the National COVID-19 Immunisation Programme’s (PICK) coordinating minister Khairy Jamaluddin previously announced that a digital certificate will be issued to those who have received both doses of their respective vaccines via the MySejahtera app, its actual date of implementation has yet to be confirmed. In addition, it has yet to be revealed if completed vaccination cards could also be served as an alternative way to identify these individuals.

(Source: Bernama)

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Khairy: Sinovac Vaccine To Be Removed From National Immunisation Rollout

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A really good post about Penang.

Khairy Jamaluddin, the man overseeing Malaysia’s COVID-19 Immunisation Task Force, recently said that the Chinese Sinovac vaccine will no longer be used in the nation’s COVID-19 vaccination rollout. The Science, Technology, and Innovation Minister confirmed the news in a recent interview with The Vibes.

Khairy’s decision reportedly comes just after Adham Baba, the Health Minister, told the press that the remaining Sinovac doses would be reserved for those that still needed to complete their second dose. More importantly, Baba said that the decision to remove the Chinese vaccine from its national list was due to the country already having imported 44 million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. In contrast, the national stockpile of Sinovac vaccine stands at 16 million doses.

Adham Baba

In light of this, Baba says that more of the Pfizer vaccine will soon see distribution across all states. On a related note, the state of Kelantan also recently announced that it was ditching the Sinovac vaccine in favour of Pfizer, starting 18 July. That said, private entities that are currently distributing Sinovac may continue to do so, at least until the national stock is used up.

Interestingly, neither minister have provided an explanation for the decision to drop Sinovac, though it is very likely due to the allegedly lower effectiveness rating of the China-made vaccine against the deadlier Delta variant of COVID-19.

AstraZeneca

Up north in neighbouring Thailand, the local government has already begun testing out heterologous vaccination, where citizens and frontline workers have been given Sinovac as their first shot. Will receive either AstraZeneca (AZ) or Pfizer as their second shot, while frontline workers who have already received two Sinovac doses will get either AZ or Pfizer as a booster. By mixing up vaccines, scientists are convinced that the act could provide better protection against COVID-19 and all of its known variants.

In any case, Khairy is expected to address the matter later today, so we’ll just need to wait to get a clearer picture.

(Source: The Vibes, FMT, SCMP, ABCNews)

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Car wash centres and hair salons added to OK list in Phase Two of NRP

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A great article about Penang Malaysia.

Car wash centres will be allowed to operate again once the National Recovery Plan (NRP) moves into its second phase. Malaysia is still currently at Phase One which began on June 15th.

Car wash centres
Watch how Nissan test their paint durability

In a statement issued on Sunday, Senior Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob said the government has added a few more economic sectors that will be allowed to operate in the plan’s subsequent phases. He also added that eateries are now allowed to operate from 6 a.m. until 10 p.m. starting today, June 28th.

The ministry has added automotive (vehicle/component), ceramic, furniture, iron and steel and cement manufacturing sectors for the go-ahead to operate from Phase Two. There is no fixed date for the transition from Phase One to Phase Two, as the parameters are daily cases under 4,000 and 10% of the population has been vaccinated.

Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob

Currently, daily cases still soar above 5,000 however based on data from the Special Committee for Ensuring Access to COVID-19 Vaccine Supply (JKJAV), vaccination for the first dose is 15.9%, while the second dose is 6.2% of the population.

“Computer and telecommunications, electrical appliances retailers and stationery plus book shops will also be in the positive list,” he said, but hair salons were only allowed to offer basic haircuts. These sectors can operate from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Malaysia
Infographic credit: The Malay Mail

The ministry also elaborated on the opening of morning and farmers market, where operation hours are only limited between 7 a.m. and 11 a.m. with only six main items be on sale- vegetables, fruits, groceries, processed chicken, meat and seafood.

‘Pasar malam’ or night market, weekend markets and “tamu” will remain closed.

Social activities are still strictly disallowed during Phase Two, with interstate and inter-district travel remain off-limits except for students facing examinations and teachers.

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Government Backtracks On Allowing Malaysians To Choose Their Own COVID-19 Vaccine

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A great post on Penang.

Just mere three days after the plan was revealed to the public, the authorities have now decided not to implement the ability for people to choose their preferred brand of COVID-19 vaccine. This decision was revealed by the chairman of COVID-19 Immunisation Task Force (CITF), Minister Khairy Jamaluddin in a media briefing earlier today.

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He who is also the coordinator of the National COVID-19 Immunisation Programme (PICK) said that this decision was done in the interest of accelerating Malaysia’s vaccination rate. Originally, this option will be made available through MySejahtera which would roll out via an upcoming update.

chairman

Minister Khairy have pointed out that this option may slow things down as some would hold on from getting vaccinated as they wait for their preferred vaccine to be available. “We thought about that initially, but now the concern is to increase and ramp up the numbers, so we just give whatever we have,” says the CITF’s chairman.

Malaysia has ordered COVID-19 vaccines from five manufacturers to be used for PICK so far although only three of them are currently in distribution at the moment including Pfizer, AstraZeneca, and Sinovac. According to Our World in Data, only 5.8% of the population have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine so far although the government has assured that the vaccination rate will be ramped up from June onwards as more vaccine supplies will arrive into the country.

(Source: MOSTI / Facebook. Additional image: JKJAV / Facebook.)

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Telecommunications Service Providers Are Offering Free Calls For Hari Raya

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An interesting article about Malaysia.

What’s the best word that comes after food? “FREE!” We just couldn’t say no to free stuff right? Good news, local telecommunications service providers will be offering free calls for Hari Raya, effective from 10 p.m tonight (12 May) to 10 a.m tomorrow (13 May)!

Free Calls From 10 p.m. to 10 a.m. Today For Hari Raya:

#unifi
Photo: What Mobile (Website)

Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) announced today that all telco customers will get to enjoy free calls within the country starting from 10 p.m tonight till 10 a.m.

Telco companies that are involved include Digi, Maxis, Celcom, REDtone, TM Unifi, Tune Talk, U Mobile, TIME dotCom, Yoodo and YTL. Minister Saifuddin Abdullah hoped that this free service will allow people to reconnect through phone calls as inter-district and interstate travel are currently not allowed.

cellular telephone
Photo: 360Connect (Website)

We think this free service will benefit prepaid users the most, as most postpaid packages already include unlimited calls as part of their promotions.

Free Calls for 12 Hours:

That being said, it’s 12 hours of non-stop calling, for free! Foodies, time to hit up your loved ones and bond through the phone. We understand that this Raya, a lot of people are stranded away from loved ones and families. We hope that this news could help lighten up the situation a little.

Not everyone has access to the Internet, and not everyone could afford a telco package that includes unlimited calls. So, this good news in a way could benefit some people. Don’t forget to share this information out so that people around will know that they’ll have free calls for 12 hours! That’s all, Selamat Hari Raya Aidilfitri to all our Muslim friends, take care and buh bye!

Source: Free Malaysia Today

Check Out: Doctor Revealed Treating COVID-19 in a Private Hospital Costs Over RM140K

Don’t Miss Out: Malaysia’s First Ever Drive Thru Mobile Phone Store Is Now Open In Penang

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Eid al-Fitr

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All Premises Identified As Covid-19 Hotspots In HIDE System To Close For 3 Days

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An informative article about Malaysia.

AI system

Senior Minister (Security Cluster) Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob has announced that all premises that have been listed in the HIDE system will be ordered to closed effective immediately for 3 days.

Earlier today, the Health Ministry (MoH) has released a list of over 150 locations in Malaysia that are potential Covid-19 hotspots, based on the Hotspot Identification for Dynamic Engagement (HIDE) date analytics and AI system.

Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob

 

Health Ministry

 

Hotspot

HIDE – Penang

For everyone’s information, this is the list of premises at high risk of Covid-19 infections that have been identified through the Hotspot Identification for Dynamic Engagement System (HIDE). This makes it easier for preventive and control measures to be taken in advance. It aims to help the community make travel plans and appropriate decisions before heading to a location or premise.

Plan your trip, Avoid crowded, narrow places and always wear a face mask.

HIDE can be used as a guide to premise owners and operators to take proactive measures to prevent and protect their respective premises from becoming a place of transmission of the Covid-19 virus.

For everyone’s information, today for Penang, the list is as follows:

  • Queensbay Mall
  • Gurney Paragon Mall
  • Lotus’s Penang
  • Aeon Queensbay
  • Toshiba TEC Malaysia Manufacturing Sdn Bhd

Read Also: Penang MCO 3.0: Where Is Timur Laut, Seberang Perai Tengah and Seberang Perai Selatan

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Govt To Implement Nationwide Ban On Interstate and Inter-District Movements From 10 May Onwards

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An interesting article on Penang.

Aside from having premises that are listed by the HIDE system to be closed immediately, the government has also decided to ban all interstate and inter-district movements throughout the country. The decision was announced by the Senior Minister for Defence, Ismail Sabri Yaakob earlier today.

The new directive will be enforced throughout the country starting from this coming Monday, 10 May 2021 and will last for the next four weeks until Sunday, 6 June 2021. This is regardless of whether the area is within the Movement Control Order (MCO), Enhanced MCO (EMCO), Conditional MCO (CMCO), or Recovery MCO (RMCO) zones.

An exception will only be given to those that have received approvals from the police. However, the minister didn’t provide any details regarding activities that can be greenlighted by the police.

ATM

That being said, Minister Ismail did say that all social, education, and economic activities that can cause mass gatherings or public congestions will be prohibited starting from this Monday as well. The same restriction also applies to all official and social events as well as face-to-face activities within the government and private sector.

Even though these restrictions will last until early June, they will be reviewed again by the authorities after two weeks according to the minister. Given that there are so many things that are still very unclear about the new directive, we expect further clarifications to be announced tomorrow. So, stay tuned.

(Source: MKN / Telegram, Bernama. Images: ATM / Facebook [1][2].)

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Government To Expand AstraZeneca Vaccine Distribution Nationwide

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An informative post on Penang Malaysia.

The government will be expanding the distribution of the AstraZeneca (AZ) COVID-19 vaccine to other states in Malaysia, according to the Chairman of the COVID-19 Immunisation Task Force (CITF), Minister Khairy Jamaluddin. This was after the first registration session for Selangor and Kuala Lumpur residents that took place yesterday.

Even though the initial experience was rather unpleasant due to technical difficulties and massive traffic, yesterday’s AZ vaccine registration day was fairly successful as all of the 268,000 available doses were reserved in around 3 hours and 12 minutes.

AstraZeneca

For the nationwide distribution, it will be taking into account those who don’t have access to the Internet, as opposed to yesterday’s session for Selangor and Kuala Lumpur which was done completely online through the official website for the Special Committee on the COVID-19 Vaccine Supply (JKJAV).

For this purpose, the authorities will be roping in the Ministry of Health’s Community Clinics to distribute the AZ vaccine which will continue to be offered on a voluntary basis according to Minister Khairy. As for Sarawak who has rejected the offer for the vaccine, the minister hopes that the state will reconsider its decision.

chairman

On a related note, Minister Khairy revealed that MySejahtera experienced 8,000 cancellations for vaccine appointment when the government announced the inclusion of the AZ vaccine into PICK. After it found out that the number of cancellations was steadily rising, JKJAV then decided to establish a separate distribution channel for the vaccine.

The minister added that around 80% of those that cancelled their vaccine appointment came back and register again after the AZ vaccine received its own distribution program. From there, it seems rather clear that vaccine hesitancy is a real issue when it comes to the particular vaccine.

(Source: MOSTI / YouTube. Additional images:  Jin Ni / WHO, MOSTI / Facebook.)

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LYTV: Meet The Tarantula HMAV4x4 – Malaysia’s First Armoured Vehicle

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An informative post on Penang.

Based in Sepang, MILDEF International Technologies has spent four years and around RM 16 million in terms of R&D cost to build what has been deemed as Malaysia’s first armoured vehicle. Up till a few days ago, it has been simply referred to as the High Mobility Armoured Vehicle (HMAV) 4×4.

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As announced by the Senior Minister for Security Cluster, Ismail Sabri Yaakob, MILDEF’s creation is now officially known as the Tarantula HMAV4x4. The name was apparently inspired by tarantulas’ capability to adapt to their surroundings as well as their reputation of killing animals much larger than themselves and the fact that there are indeed one particular tarantula species that can only be found in Malaysia.

Ismail Sabri Yaakob

Malaysia

Powered by a 330hp Caterpillar 7.2-litre turbocharged diesel engine, the Tarantula HMAV4x4 has a top speed of 110 km/h. It has also been designed to meet the NATO STANAG Level 2 and Level 2B standards when it comes to ballistic and artillery protection.

The prototype you saw in this video also carries a remote control weapon system and hydraulic rear door ramp while the vehicle can also be fitted with a central tire inflation system. According to MILDEF, the Tarantula HMAV4x4 has recently passed the 9-days evaluation tests by the Malaysian Army and Science & Technology Research Institute for Defence (STRIDE) which covers 1,000km of road and off-road distance in addition to having to go through an obstacle course.

Malaysian Army

MILDEF International Technologies

Even though the Tarantula is technically still under testing, MILDEF has said that it managed to attract attention from overseas customers which is a good sign for the outfit as well as the local defence industry in general. For more, do check out our initial report regarding Tarantula HMAV4x4 right here.

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PM: Those Who Completed Their Vaccination May Be Allowed To Travel Interstate and Oversea

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An interesting post about Malaysia.

During the Shared Prosperity Vision 2030 town hall session in Kuching earlier today, Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin stated that those who have received both of their COVID-19 vaccine doses may be allowed to travel interstate and outside of Malaysia.

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While this directive has not yet been made official, the decision to allow interstate travel for the vaccinated individual is something that has been discussed during the National Security Council (MKN) meeting according to PM Muhyiddin. He pointed out that this is not an incentive but more as an encouragement to have the public to be more receptive towards the vaccine.

PM Muhyiddin has also revealed that the government has begun the negotiations with several countries to allow Malaysians that have completed their vaccinations and obtained digital vaccination certificate to make their journey to those destinations. He didn’t reveal the said countries but interesting enough, has actually mentioned several locations including Japan, Shanghai, Bangkok, and Jakarta during the session.

According to the statistics from the Special Committee On Ensuring Access to COVID-19 Vaccine Supply (JKJAV), around 7.5 million people have registered for the vaccine as of 11:59 PM on 31 March which is still far below the target. Hence, if you have yet to register for the vaccine, we do recommend you to do it as soon as possible via the MySejahtera app or through JKJAV’s website and hotline.

(Source: UKAS / Facebook [starts at 1:15:00 mark], Minister Khairy / Twitter[1][2]. Image: MoH / Facebook.)

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