Penang will be moving on to Phase 2 of the National Recovery Plan (PPN) after receiving the green light from the National Security Council (MKN). The state will be joining Perlis, Perak, Kelantan, Terengganu, and Pahang that have made the transition today.
The announcement by MKN came just a few hours after Penang’s Chief Minister Chow Kon Yeow expressed the state’s confidence in obtaining approval from MKN. According to Senior Defence Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob, Penang has satisfied all three of PPN Phase 2 indicators which includes having average daily cases of 9.5 per 100,000 people for seven days.
At the same time, the ICU bed occupancy in Penang has been rated as moderate together with adequate capacity to respond. Furthermore, 10.1% of the state’s adult population have also been fully vaccinated although in terms of implementation, Penang’s new designation will only be in effect starting this coming Wednesday, 7 July.
While Phase 2 states are still subjected to plenty of restrictions such as inter-district and interstate movements alongside the 10km radius travel limit to purchase daily necessities and food supplies, more economic sectors are allowed to be opened and businesses are allowed to operate with up to 80% of their workforce. You can check out the full PPN Phase 2 SOP list over at MKN’s website right here [pdf].
(Source: MKN / Twitter. Main photo by Linus Mak, used under Creative Commons licence.)
