PUTRAJAYA: Non-Muslim houses of worship can operate during the just declared movement control order (MCO 3.0) from tomorrow until June 7 but will have to make do with smaller congregations, under new standard operating procedures.
According to the national unity ministry, the number of worshippers must not exceed 50 people for houses of worship that can accommodate more than 1,000 worshippers while only 20 people will be allowed into 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 a statement from the ministry.
The ministry said the SOP was an amendment to the existing SOP of opening of non-Muslim houses of worship, which was approved after the ministry’s technical committee meeting with senior minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob today.
House of worship management bodies are also reminded to carry out sanitisation work 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) would carry out SOP monitoring.
The statement also quoted national unity minister Halimah Mohamed Sadique as reminding all non-Muslim houses of worship management bodies and worshippers to adhere to the SOPs, besides observing personal hygiene, wearing face masks and maintaining physical distance.-BERNAMA