Senior minister for security Ismail Sabri Yaakob said this was approved under strict standard operating procedures, including only using registered vehicles.
“The meeting today has agreed to allow tourism within and between states under RMCO.
“But tourists will need to use vehicles registered under the tourism ministry,” he said in a press conference today.
He added that privately owned cars would not be allowed.
States under RMCO are Melaka, Pahang, Terengganu, Sabah, Putrajaya, Labuan and Perlis.
He said travel agents must get permission from the police to cross the states and that registered tour bus companies must also obtain approval from the police.
“This is so that each passenger does not need to apply for police permission,” he added.
“The journey must be between RMCO areas only. However, any journey that requires crossing areas under conditional MCO (CMCO) is permitted but the buses are not allowed to stop when inside such areas.
“That is why private cars are not allowed. The police advised us private cars will be difficult to control,” he said, adding that only registered buses with the tourism, arts and culture ministry will be granted permission to travel.
Ismail also said the police will be provided with information of the buses.
The list of hotels allowed to accept tourists is also with the police, adding that more information is available from the ministry.
He announced that the National Security Council (MKN) had also agreed to change the status of Langkawi to RMCO.
“This is because the island is now a green zone with the last case reported on Feb 20,” Ismail said.
Meanwhile, the MKN has relaxed restrictions on the creative and performance arts industry with various activities now being allowed to operate with the presence of a live audience.
According to Ismail, this covers official government events, television programmes, stage, comedy and cultural shows.
“This will be allowed only at registered areas and people need to pre-book tickets online,” he said.
He added that only pre-ordered meals are allowed to be on sale during the shows, while a physical distance of 1.5m must be maintained between each audience member and 2m between artistes.
“Outdoor shooting will also be allowed in states under CMCO and RMCO,” he said.
For states under CMCO, Ismail said up to 50% of the capacity is allowed for any venue, subject to physical distancing rules being applied, while states under RMCO will only need to follow the physical distancing rule.
Ismail admitted the MCO had severely affected the creative and performance arts industry, which employs more than 40,000 people.
He said during the recent MCO, about 45 large scale activities were also affected involving at least 300,000 people.
Speaking on the areas under the enhanced MCO (EMCO), Ismail said the EMCO at Centennial Hostel, Kampung Acheh in Manjung, Perak will end tomorrow. He added that 1,551 people had been screened so far of which 463 tested positive.
He also announced that 269 individuals were arrested yesterday for breaching SOPs with 251 issued compound fines and 18 remanded over MCO-related offences.
He said most of the offences were for failing to follow physical distancing (66) and not wearing face mask (65).
Among the other offences were crossing districts or states without permission (24), participating in activities at nightclubs and pubs (14).
The authorities also detained 29 undocumented migrants and confiscated four vehicles.
Regarding the mandatory home quarantine, Ismail said 140,926 people who arrived through KLIA were screened for Covid-19 between July 24 and March 8 and were placed under quarantine.
Some 967 tested positive and were sent to hospital for treatment, while 132,568 have been allowed to return home.
CLICK HERE FOR THE LATEST DATA ON THE COVID-19 SITUATION IN MALAYSIA
We are live on Telegram, subscribe here for breaking news and the latest announcements.