KANGAR: Perlis folks should not leave their homes unless necessary and should continue complying with standard operating procedure, says Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Azlan Man.

       Even though the state is now in Phase Three of the National Recovery Plan, Azlan expressed concern over the rise in the number of daily Covid-19 cases in the past five days, with the highest number of cases recorded at 23 on Thursday.

       He said it was sad that some people had abused the freedom of movement and the reopening of the economic sector under this phase, leading to the increase in Covid-19 cases.

       “Some people do not take the issue of SOP compliance seriously and this has pushed us back into the red zone, even though we have been in Phase Three of the National Recovery Plan since Aug 4,” Azlan said in a Facebook post yesterday.

       As of Thursday, over 50% of the population in the state have received at least one dose of the vaccine while 36% are now fully vaccinated.

       The infectivity rate for Perlis is now 1.33.

       Azlan said it would not be surprising if an exponential increase in Covid-19 cases in the state was reported if people continued to ignore the stipulated SOP.

       Based on statistics from the Perlis Health Department, the 23 new Covid-19 cases recorded on Thursday brought the total to 910 cases in the state. — Bernama