CORONAVIRUS | Putrajaya has retracted the movement control order (MCO) exemptions for businesses providing haircuts or optometry services.

Senior Minister (security cluster) Ismail Sabri Yaakob said this was decided by Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin today.

"As I have said two days in a row, the government listens to the public, experts and also the NGOs.

"In view of this, the prime minister has decided that barbershops, beauty salons and optometry shops are not allowed to operated during the MCO period," he said.

Ismail was speaking to reporters during his daily press briefing today. He did not take questions.

The International Trade and Industry Ministry (Miti) had on April 10 announced that several non-essential sectors will be exempted from MCO restrictions.

The list included law firms, the "automotive sector", selected construction jobs and even barbershops.

This led to public outcry and even criticisms from groups representing hairdressers, who believed that social distancing - the main weapon used to stem the spread of the Covid-19 virus - could not be maintained in a hair salon.

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