KUALA LUMPUR: As most businesses are set to resume operations tomorrow, operators are gearing up to put preventive measures in place to adapt to the new normal.
Among the basic preventive measures include the recording of body temperature of workers and customers, as well as preparing hand sanitiser.
Some operators had gone the extra mile to ensure the health and safety of customers.
1 Utama Shopping Centre public relations manager Lee Li Lian said the mall was set to roll out QR scanning health checks via its mobile application for staff members, shoppers and tenants.
"This is an initiative by 1 Utama to ease contact tracing (should there be an infection in the vicinity) as required by the National Security Council.
"We hope the reopening (of businesses) will help family and friends to reembrace their daily lives," she said yesterday.
Lee said 1 Utama was liaising with tenants on the reopening process to ensure strict safety standard operating procedures (SOP) were in place.
"The tenants will need a few days to make arrangements and settle down. During the Conditional Movement Control Order (CMCO), 1 Utama will be open from 10am to 10pm daily, but shops will have different operating hours according to their categories as permitted by the International Trade and Industry Ministry.
"We are to reopen at an almost full capacity, except for the categories that are not allowed by the ministry, such as cinemas, gyms and salons."
She added that 1 Utama would continue maintaining precautionary measures that had been in place since the beginning of the MCO, including frequent sanitation exercises and providing free had sanitising stations.
"UV lights are installed in air handling units to kill harmful microbes, bacteria and viruses, apart from a comprehensive air filtration system for better indoor air quality.
"Some entrances will be closed for better crowd management. We have also put up social distancing markers at queues and lifts; designated food and beverage pickup locations to facilitate food deliveries for Grab and Foodpanda for safer food handling and security.
"There will also be Personal Protective Equipment and emergency facilities available at locations earmarked for holding rooms for anyone suspected or detected with Covid-19 symptoms."
Malaysian Optometrists Association president Woon Pak Seong said it was unfortunate that optometry and optical services were not allowed to operate during the MCO, despite being classified as essential by the Health Ministry.
Nevertheless, optometry and optical services were prepared to reopen their doors tomorrow.
"We have kept all 800 members, including all optometrists, abreast of safety guidelines for customers and staff.
"During the MCO, we were prepared to meet customers strictly on an appointment basis, emergency and essential cases only.
"We had requested that anything otherwise to be postponed," Woon said when contacted.
Woon, the owner of Vision Space Optometrist, said his centres would be cleaned three times a day to ensure the safety of the customers. Additional sanitisation will be done on high-touch surfaces throughout operating hours.
"We will clean our equipment before and after each eye test. All spectacles and sunglasses will be sanitised before and after the customer tries them on.
"We will offer additional services such as tele-optometry, where we can answer your questions via WhatsApp, phone call or video call, courier eyewear to the customers and attend to them while they wait in the car," he said.
Woon said his centres would be serving customers based on appointments.
"If you don't make an appointment, then we can serve you only if there is a vacancy at that hour, or we will be happy to make an appointment for your next visit for safety purposes."
He added that for the safety of all, customers and staff members coming to the store would need to fill a health declaration form.
"Their body temperatures will be taken and they are required to wear masks. A mask will be provided for them if they don't have it with them. We will also limit the number of people in the building."
Source : https://www.nst.com.my/news/nation/2020/05/589445/shopping-malls-ready-new-normal