Putrajaya has apparently given the okay for the state to move to the second phase of the national recovery plan on Wednesday.

The auspicious date of “7-7” this year also marks the 13th year that George Town and Melaka were given Unesco World Heritage Site status. Hokkiens also regard seven as auspicious.

Sources told FMT that after a series of consultations between the Penang government and the National Security Council (MKN), the transition to the second phase was “pretty much set to go”, as the daily case average had fallen below the 217 cases a week threshold and 10% of the target population had also been vaccinated as of yesterday.

FMT has contacted the chief minister’s office for an official response.

The average 217 cases/week threshold for Penang was set by Putrajaya under a new formula to ease movement restrictions in states. The formula moves away from the national average of Covid-19 cases to determine if a state could ease lockdowns.

Chief minister Chow Kon Yeow had previously urged the federal government to allow states to go into subsequent recovery phases depending on case numbers, vaccination rates and ICU bed take up, and to not rely on national averages in relaxing lockdown rules.

Over the weekend, he also revealed that Penang had vaccinated 10% of a targeted 1.3 million population, which also met the federal threshold in allowing the strict lockdown to be lifted.

Experts at Universiti Sains Malaysia had said the present full MCO has not been working, given the more infectious strains of Covid-19 present. They said infections will inevitably rise and it was time to focus on vaccination and consider a shift from pandemic to endemic, similar to an approach taken by Singapore.