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Kuala Lumpur: The Government will still maintain the inter-state travel ban as it is one of the causes behind the rise in the daily Covid-19 positive cases in the country.Senior Minister (Security) Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob (pic) said the matter was decided at the Covid-19 technical committee meeting Friday.

He said the decision would definitely not be well received by Malaysians, but it was needed to curb the spread of the disease.

“Cases have increased in other countries. India currently records over 200,000 Covid-19 positive cases daily, pushing its total cases to over 14 million. In the capital New Delhi, scores of hotels and halls have been converted to house Covid-19 patients.

“We definitely do not want such a situation in Malaysia. So once again, I would like to stress on self-monitoring and standard operating procedure (SOP) compliance, ‘kita jaga kita’,” he told a media conference regarding developments of the Conditional Movement Control Order (CMCO) and the Recovery MCO (RMCO), here.

Ismail Sabri, who is also Defence Minister, said 38 inter-state travel clusters involving 5,471 cases were recorded from Dec 20, 2020 to April 20 while seven clusters involving 423 cases were recorded this month alone.

In Kelantan, since Dec 7 last year, he said a total of 10 inter-state travel clusters have been recorded, some of which are still active until now.

“These inter-state travel clusters not only spread Covid-19 to green zone areas, but activities such as returning to the village to attend social functions also increase the risk of infection to vulnerable groups such as the elderly and children,” he said.

Meanwhile, Ismail Sabri said 140 individuals were given compound notices, while 19 others were remanded on Thursday for flouting the SOP.

Apart from that, he said 56 illegal immigrants were detained and 10 land vehicles were seized in Op Benteng on Thursday.

Meanwhile, Aidilfitri bazaars nationwide are allowed to operate until 2am from Saturday. Ismail Sabri said the extension of operating hours was allowed after listening to appeals from bazaar traders.

“We were informed that visitors will only go out after Isyak and tarawih prayers, and when we allow them (traders) to operate until midnight, their business hours are too short,” he said.

On the standard operating procedures (SOP) for Hari Raya Aidilfitri celebration, Ismail Sabri said they were being scrutinised and would be announced next week after listening to a presentation from the Department of Islamic Development Malaysia (Jakim).

Meanwhile, he said any decision relating to the closure of schools due to Covid-19 cases should go through the Education Ministry and Health Ministry. Ismail Sabri added that the Education Ministry would make the decision to close or reopen schools based on risk assessment by the Health Ministry.

“I hope state governments do not make decisions on their own because this is under the jurisdiction of the Education Ministry,” he said.