Coronavirus: Malaysia extends school holidays to March 31, last day of partial lockdown

People with face masks crossing a street next to commercial buildings in Kuala Lumpur, on March 16, 2020. PHOTO: AFP

Updated

Published

Mar 20, 2020, 02:48 PM

KUALA LUMPUR (THE STAR/ASIA NEWS NETWORK) - Malaysia's one-week school holiday has been extended until March 31 to curb movement of people in view of the Covid-19 spike.

Malaysian Senior Minister and Minister of Defence Ismail Sabri Yaakob said with the extension of the holidays, parents could stay put wherever they were and would not need to return home to enable their children to go to school.

"So our order is for parents who are with their children during the holidays to continue staying on in their kampung until March 31," he said in a press conference on Friday (March 20), after attending a meeting on the Restricted Movement Order (RMO).

Malaysia put the control on partial lockdown from Wednesday (March 18) to March 31.

Datuk Seri Ismail said with the school holidays extended to March 31, parents would also not have to go to the office.

The decision was made to minimise movement of people during the RMO period.

Recently, many Malaysians who were unaware of the significance of the order decided to "balik kampung" (return to home towns) after the order was announced, causing massive movement of people and creating more concerns that the Covid-19 was being widely spread.