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He said this was decided by the National Security Council (NSC) at a meeting yesterday.
Asked at a press conference if longer operating hours would be extended to indoor sports facilities, he said this should not be a problem, adding that he would bring the matter up at a meeting next week.
“I don’t want to decide on my own. If businesses can operate till 2am, I believe there should be no obstruction. I will bring it up at the NSC meeting next week,” he said.
Ismail said Putrajaya had agreed to allow foreigners to join prayers at mosques and other houses of worship as long as they complied with the SOPs.
He also said police arrested 198 people yesterday for flouting the recovery movement control order (RMCO), of whom 175 had been fined and 23 remanded.
Sixty-two of them were detained at pubs and nightclubs, 13 at a private party and one had fled from a quarantine centre.
The others were caught for not wearing masks, failing to record the details of customers and carrying out activities that involved crowds and made physical distancing difficult.
He said police had also detained 41 illegal immigrants, three smugglers and a smuggling agent.
Ismail also allayed fears that the nation would go back under MCO again following a spike in Covid-19 cases of late, saying Putrajaya could still lock down localities instead of the entire country.
It had been reported previously that Putrajaya would consider enforcing the MCO again if the number of new cases reached triple digits.
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