SHAH ALAM, July 29 ― The Selangor government will take proactive measures in curbing the spread of Covid-19 by distributing reusable face masks to about one million students in the state.

Selangor Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Amirudin Shari said the face masks would be distributed to all primary and secondary school students as well as to religious schools except private school students.

Amirudin said the decision was made in the State Executive Council meeting which took place today.

"We made this decision as face masks are costly for some parents.

"We will try to provide this to (all) students, but priority will be given to students whose families are in the B40 group,” he told a press conference after the presentation of the Selangor E-Bazar Raya campaign report, at Sultan Salahuddin Abdul Aziz Shah Building, today.

He said the state government is currently obtaining the actual number of students in the state from the Selangor State Education Department and the Selangor Islamic Religious Department (Jais), and the face mask will be distributed after Aug 1.

Amirudin said private school students would not be affected as he was confident their parents could afford them. 

Commenting on the Selangor E-Bazar Raya campaign with Shopee, Amirudin said through the initiative, about RM341.5 million was generated by traders from its ripple effects through the e-commerce platform.

He explained that the programme, which started from May to June also attracted 8,400 e-commerce traders, of which 6,400 were conventional traders with e-commerce platforms. ― Bernama