KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 10 — Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob today backtracked from his initial announcement allowing a maximum of 500 people to attend wedding functions in the Klang “mukim” or sub-district, which is under the conditional movement control order (CMCO).

In his press briefing, the senior minister also advised couples to postpone their functions if possible, and if otherwise, abide by the rules set in place and inform the police of their event.

“That’s why when there were application for wedding function in Klang ‘mukim’, we allowed with very strict regulations, including monitoring by People’s Volunteer Corps (Rela) and all, and we agreed today, that though normally, we allowed 500 to 600 people based on the area.

“But today, we fixed that 250 is the maximum number, and police must be informed about the event, as monitoring is not just by Rela, but police to can patrol the area to monitor and ensure compliance,” he said.

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“250 at any one time,” he stressed again.

Yesterday, he said that weddings are allowed in areas under the CMCO, but added however, that wedding organisers and participants must comply with the government’s health and safety regulations to curb the spread of the Covid-19 virus.

He added that a minimum of two Rela personnel must be in attendance for weddings with fewer than 100 guests while ceremonies with 100 to 300 people require three personnel; weddings with 300 to 500 guests must have four Rela personnel present.

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Ismail said that wedding guests will be required to show their invitations at the CMCO entry points.

Today, Ismail explained that CMCO standard operating procedures, though standard, it can be modified to suit circumstances from one place to another.

“Yes, the answer is yes. Though the basis of the SOP is almost the same. We have fixed the basis of the SOPs, however, since it is CMCO, then the conditions can be modified, subjected to the situation of that place. So it is surely different,” he said.

Ismail, who is also defence minister, then compared to the CMCO enforced in Sabah and Klang.

“If we see in this Klang ‘mukim’, though we did an overall CMCO in the entire mukim, but our focus is only on [inaudible], because in other places the cases are too small.

“However, if we were to see in Sabah for example, in Sabah east coast, almost the entire area is a red zone, and in terms of case numbers there are still increasing cases in Sabah east coast,” he said.

He added that this was why the government had to enforce tighter CMCO control there, such as banning barter trade, limiting the hours fishermen are allowed to go to sea and restricted hours for grocery shopping.

On October 7, Ismail had announced that Klang in Selangor and the three Sabah districts of Sandakan, Papar and Tuaran would be placed under CMCO for 14 days from October 9, as these areas are categorised as Covid-19 red zones by the Ministry of Health.