PUTRAJAYA, May 12 — The National Unity Ministry has set a new standard operating procedure (SOP) for non-Muslim houses of worship following the enforcement of movement control order (MCO) 3.0 beginning today until June 7.
In its statement yesterday, the ministry said the SOP is an amendment to the existing SOP of Opening of Non-Muslim Houses of Worship, that is approved through the ministry’s Technical Committee meeting with Senior Minister (Security Cluster) Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob yesterday.
According to the ministry, the amendment involves the number of worshippers that must not exceed 50 people for houses of worship that can accommodate more than 1,000 worshippers while 20 people for those with a capacity of fewer than 1,000 worshippers.
“The praying time for non-Muslim houses of worship is from 6am to 2pm and 4pm to 10pm,” read the statement.
House of worship management bodies are also reminded to carry out sanitisation works for 30 minutes before and after praying activities are conducted.
According to the statement, unity officers appointed as monitoring officers under Section 3 of the Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases 1988 (Act 342) will carry out SOP monitoring.
The statement also quoted National Unity Minister Datuk Halimah Mohamed Sadique who reminded all non-Muslim houses of worship management bodies and worshippers, to adhere to the SOP, besides observing personal hygiene, wearing face masks and keeping physical distancing to break the Covid-19 chain.
— Bernama
