KUALA LUMPUR, Apr 1 — Health Director-General Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah has suggested today for Malaysians to hold Ramadan bazaars online or as a drive-thru, amid debate whether the annual practice should go one amid Covid-19.
He said these could be alternatives to having the usual bazaar as they cannot predict if the spread of Covid-19 will dissipate enough to allow people to resume their normal lives by next month.
“We may have the guiding principles from the Ministry of Health (MOH) on how to run the Ramadan bazaars in a time of crisis like now, but the question is how can we give new ideas?
“For example maybe we can have an e-bazaars or an online bazaar or a drive-thru bazaar so that we can avoid many people congregating in one place,” Dr Noor Hisham said during his daily Covid-19 briefing in Putrajaya.
Just earlier today, Selangor said it will cancel Ramadan bazaars in the state, following similar steps by Melaka, Negri Sembilan, and Terengganu.
Federal Territories Minister Tan Sri Annuar Musa also has said that his ministry is still in discussion with various stakeholders and MOH on the possibility of having the bazaar in the territories.
Dr Noor Hisham said today while it is best to keep social distancing, MOH will have to study and vet any new ideas that come up before approving new ideas.
“For now we at MOH are open to any latest ideas that are put forth. We will refer to everything with our existing guidelines before deciding on what to do,” added Dr Noor Hisham.
