Travel pass U-turn - Malaysiakini
Good morning, here’s what you need to know today.
Key Highlights
- Travel pass U-turn
- Death toll crosses 3,000
- Pay-to-vaccinate soon
Travel pass U-turn
Another day, another U-turn with Covid-19 SOPs – this time on whether the police would turn you back at roadblocks for not having the right letter.
May 30: Putrajaya revoked permission letters for interdistrict travel issued by the International Trade and Industry Ministry (Miti).
“Essential services” were told to get new travel passes from the ministries that oversee them.
May 31: Less than six hours before total lockdown came into force, the National Security Council said businesses must now apply for permission from Miti again.
The move caused tensions between Defence Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob and Miti Minister Azmin Ali, according to a highly placed source.
June 1: Lockdown comes into force. Police give businesses three days to get a new Miti letter for essential services.
Businesses struggled to get registered due to spotty access to Miti’s Covid-19 intelligent management system (CIMS 3.0) website.
June 3: Police say they will now accept all travel permission letters issued by the government, not just Miti.
HIGHLIGHTS
Death toll crosses 3,000
The Covid-19 death toll is now at 3,096 after another 103 victims succumbed to the virus. Yesterday was the second day in a row that fatalities were in triple digits.
Daily deaths are expected to continue worsening, as the numbers of patients in ICU and on ventilators remain at record highs.
The Health Ministry is also seeing an increasing trend of serious cases of Covid-19 in children below the age of five, some of which have been fatal.
HIGHLIGHTS
Pay-to-vaccinate soon
A handful of large companies are preparing for a pilot programme where they will cover costs for the immunisation process, while vaccines are provided for free.
One of the participating companies, Sunway Group, is reportedly planning to charge Bandar Sunway tenants and employees around RM50 per dose.
The pay-to-vaccinate model has raised concerns of profiteering, a charge which the Malaysia Shopping Mall Association denied.
The private vaccination initiative also comes as public inoculation efforts continue to be an uphill battle.
Selangor, which has been the hardest hit by the pandemic, says it is struggling with vaccine supplies – contrary to disputed data claiming it had 2.5 million doses unused as of May 30.
HIGHLIGHTS
A daily glance at Covid-19
- 8,209 new cases yesterday (June 3).
- Selangor saw 3,125 new cases, the highest since the resurgence of the third wave, which started in mid-April.
- States that are seeing elevated cases (more than 500) also included: Kuala Lumpur, Johor, Sarawak, and Negeri Sembilan.
- For trends on daily cases, tests, hospital beds capacity, vaccination progress and more, follow our Covid-19 tracker.
What else is happening?
- The Pahang government-approved mining operations in the vicinity of Tasik Chini in Pekan to a royalty-linked company, despite its pledge to rehabilitate the country’s second-largest natural lake.
- The Court of Appeal ruled that the federal government had no legal standing to sue on behalf of the Temiar Orang Asli in a land dispute in Kelantan.
- Home Minister Hamzah Zainuddin urged elected representatives fighting for the rights of undocumented migrants to be their “sponsor” and assist in the vaccination process.
- Former finance minister Lim Guan Eng said emergency powers can be used to compel banks to extend loan moratoriums to the M40.
- A detainee at the Klang Selatan District police headquarters died while in police custody, just one day after he was arrested, according to the family’s lawyer.
HIGHLIGHTS
What are people saying?
CARTOON KINI
