The latest ones had us scratching our heads.

New day, new changes

In his daily press briefing on Thursday (15 October), Senior Minister (Security Cluster) Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob said that restaurants and cafes are now permitted to sit a maximum of four people per big table.

The Star Online reported that the decision came after the National Security Council reviewed its earlier decision of limiting only two-diners per table.

However, despite the change in SOP, Ismail said that the new rule only applies if there is sufficient physical distancing.

"We allowed dine-in during the previous conditional MCO but limited it to two to a maximum of four individuals per table.

"But under the recovery MCO period, we allowed tables to be joined together and for big tables to allow three to eight individuals to dine together as long as there was physical distancing between them in the restaurants," he was quoted as saying.

That was not the only change in the SOP announced by Ismail on Thursday.

He revealed that the authorities have also decided to remove the travel restriction imposed in Kuala Lumpur as it is considered as one area or district.

That basically means that the limit of a 10km travelling radius that was implemented during the early days of the CMCO are now no longer applicable.

Giving an example, Ismail said that an individual can now travel from Cheras to Bukit Bintang, and as long as their journey was within the district boundaries.

Terms and conditions apply, of course.

“But bear in mind, the travel must be to buy your necessities and not for social or other purposes.

“These areas are placed under the conditional MCO because we want to limit movement to break the chain of COVID-19 infections.

“If people are allowed to move freely, then it would defeat the purpose of imposing the order,” he was quoted as saying.