On 15 August 2021, the Prime Minister of Malaysia, Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin1, announced that non-essential activities in the manufacturing, construction, mining and quarrying industries are allowed to resume operations under the National Recovery Plan but the operating capacity of such activities is subject to the level of the workforce that has been fully vaccinated.

Tan Sri Muhyiddin explained that the operating capacity is as follows -

  1. if 40% to 59% of the workforce has been fully vaccinated, the business is allowed to operate at 60% capacity;
  2. if 60% to 79% of the workforce has been fully vaccinated, the business is allowed to operate at 80% capacity; and
  3. if 80% to 100% of the workforce has been fully vaccinated, the business is allowed to operate at full capacity.

Our Alert on the measures announced by Tan Sri Muhyiddin can be read here.

On 16 August 2021, the standard operating procedures ("SOPs") of the National Recovery Plan were revised to reflect and clarify the operating capacity of the above-mentioned non-essential activities as follows -

SOPs for states and federal territories under the First Phase and Second Phase

The operating capacity of non-essential activities in the manufacturing and construction industries is as follows -

  1. if 40% of the workforce has been fully vaccinated, the business is allowed to operate at 60% capacity;
  2. if 60% of the workforce has been fully vaccinated, the business is allowed to operate at 80% capacity; and
  3. if 80% of the workforce has been fully vaccinated, the business is allowed to operate at full capacity.

The operating capacity of non-essential activities in the mining and quarrying industries is as follows -

  1. if 60% of the workforce has been fully vaccinated, the business is allowed to operate at 80% capacity; and
  2. if 80% of the workforce has been fully vaccinated, the business is allowed to operate at full capacity.

At the time of issuance of this Alert, the states of Selangor, Johor, Negeri Sembilan, Kedah and Melaka as well as the Federal Territories of Kuala Lumpur and Putrajaya are still under the First Phase, and the states of Kelantan, Terengganu, Pahang, Perak, Penang and Sabah have transitioned to the Second Phase.

The SOPs for states and federal territories under the First Phase and Second Phase can be accessed here and here.

SOPs for states and federal territories under the Third Phase

The operating capacity of non-essential activities in the manufacturing, construction, mining and quarrying industries is as follows -

  1. if less than 80% of the workforce has been fully vaccinated, the business is allowed to operate at 80% capacity; and
  2. if more than 80% of the workforce has been fully vaccinated, the business is allowed to operate at full capacity.

At the time of issuance of this Alert, the states of Perlis and Sarawak and the Federal Territory of Labuan have transitioned to the Third Phase.

The SOPs for states and federal territories under the Third Phase can be accessed here.

Footnotes

1 At the date of issuance of this Alert, Tan Sri Muhyiddin resigned and is currently serving as the caretaker Prime Minister until the appointment of a new Prime Minister.

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