KUALA LUMPUR, April 13 (NNN-BERNAMA) — The Movement Control Order (MCO), which is entering its third phase in less than 48 hours, will see certain service sectors back in operation in stages.
Last Friday, Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, in announcing the third phase of the MCO, from April 15 to 28, had said that several services sectors would be allowed to operate.
Following the announcement by the Prime Minister, the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) released a list of seven service sectors that will be allowed to operate, including hair salons and optical shops.
However, the announcement sparked a heated discussion on social media amid growing concern over the possibility of a new cluster of COVID-19 infections, especially from hair salons or barber shops.
Social media users also shared news of a barber in the United States who died of COVID-19, as well as a cluster case in Fukuoka, Japan, that originated from a hair salon.
Realising the people’s concern over the matter, Senior Minister (Security Cluster) Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob said the operation of barber shops and hair salons during the third phase of the MCO would be subjected to the approval of the application and only in green zone areas.
However, he said MITI would first study the applications before allowing them to operate.
Last Saturday, the Ministry of Health (MOH) suggested that the matter (to allow barber shops and businesses in other sectors to operate during the third phase of the MCO) to be put on hold.
A few state governments have also issued statements regarding the operation status of barber shops and hair salons, among them, Negeri Sembilan, which called for MOH to issue guidelines on the matter.
As for the Penang government, it has also decided not to allow the barber shops to operate during MCO.
In fact, a few hairdressing associations have also called for the federal government to follow in the footsteps of Penang.
In a general poll conducted by Bernama TV on Saturday (April 11), on whether hair salons and barber shops should be allowed to operate during MCO, almost 88 percent of the 16,500 respondents said that they should not be allowed to operate.
Earlier in the fight against the virus, Health Director-General Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah had described the importance of the final phase in breaking the chain of the COVID-19 infection and reducing the number of cases. He had said that it would be like coming to the end of a “marathon” where the last few metres would determine if their efforts to eliminate Covid-19 would be victorious.
The concern by various quarters is of fear of new clusters or sub-clusters surfacing during the third phase of MCO.
