Christmas gatherings: No more than 20 people in landed properties

PUTRAJAYA: Christmas visits will only be limited to private gatherings of not more than 20 people at any one time on Dec 25, says Senior Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob.

He said this ruling applied to areas under recovery and conditional movement control order (MCO), whereas in places under enhanced MCO, only household gatherings were allowed.

The 20 people limit is only for landed properties.

For apartments and condominiums, the maximum number for visitors at one time is 10 for units sized 1,500 sq ft and below, and 20 for units sized between 1,500 and 2,500 sq ft.

Church prayer sessions will also be allowed at conditional and recovery MCO areas but at limited time.

Ismail said on Christmas eve (Dec 24), church mass would be allowed between 5pm and 9.30pm, and up to two sessions maximum.

“Each session is limited to one and a half hours. After the first session, a sanitisation exercise of 45 minutes must be conducted before the second session.

“So for example, if the first session is from 5pm to 6.30pm, the church must conduct 45 minutes of sanitisation, and the second session can start after 7.15pm, ” said Ismail Sabri.

For Christmas day mass, he said mass times would be from 7am to 1.45pm, and limited to three sessions.

The 45-minute sanitisation exercise also applies between sessions.

Churches must also set up counters for temperature and QR code checks.

The number of churchgoers allowed is based on existing places of worship SOP.

Churches in green, yellow and orange zones are limited to 300 people, depending on the size of the church.

For red zones, there cannot be more than 30 worshippers at one time.