Selangor proposes only essential economic sectors to open under EMCO

The Selangor government proposed to the National Security Council (NSC) yesterday that only essential economic sectors be opened until the enhanced movement control order (EMCO) in the state has been lifted, says Menteri Besar Amirudin Shari.

Taking into account the increasing daily cases of Covid-19 recorded in Selangor, he said the recommendations submitted to the NSC included maintaining the closure of certain economic and industrial sectors until the EMCO is lifted.

The EMCO in Selangor which will run until July 16 involves 34 mukims or sub-districts in eight districts, namely Petaling district, Hulu Langat, Sepang, Gombak, Kuala Langat, Klang, Kuala Selangor and Hulu Selangor.

Amirudin said discussions with the NSC also included permission for the electrical and electronics (E&E) sector to operate in EMCO areas from July 7, as approved by the international trade and industry ministry where, according to the ministry, E&E and its supply chains are significant and critical sectors.

“The reason being that Malaysia is the world’s main E&E chain – if things get stuck here, the whole chain of E&E business is also affected. So we also (need to) take into account such things,” he said at a press conference today after visiting Taman Murni, which has been under EMCO since June 30.

Amirudin said the implementation of EMCO in Selangor was one of several drastic measures taken by the state government to stop the spread of Covid-19, apart from expediting the vaccination of the people.

He said the daily number of Covid-19 cases in Selangor jumped to 4,400 today, the seventh day of EMCO, compared with 4,152 cases reported yesterday, as a result of close contact detection activities and health screening, especially for individuals with symptoms.

He added that Selangor is expected to move to Phase Two of the movement control under the National Recovery Plan in August or September, once it has met the key threshold value indicators set by the government for transition between phases.

He said the vaccination rate in Selangor could reach 10% within a week, but that the number of cases in the state is still high with the health system affected by the use of beds in the ICU.