THE Penang government has announced its withdrawal from the 49th Sumut (Northern Sumatra) Fair 2020 to be held from March 20 till April 20.
State Domestic Trade, Consumer Affairs and Entrepreneurship Development Committee chairman Datuk Abdul Halim Hussain said the decision was made based on the
current transmission of Covid-19, which is declared as pandemic by the World Health Organisation (WHO) on March 11.
“The Ministry of Health has also advised the gathering of huge crowd to be postponed to prevent the spread of Covid-19,” Abdul Halim told a press conference today.
A total of 27 medium and small industry entrepreneurs and 12 government agencies nationwide were scheduled to take part in the30-day fair in northern Sumatra.
“However, small scale functions like ABCD Digital 5.0 course which is scheduled to be held at MBSP auditorium at Bandar Perda on March 21 and at Hotel Malaysia on March
22 involving 120 entrepreneurs will be continued.
“Each programme will be subjected to safety measures like supply of sanitiser and body temperature check,” he stressed.
Abdul Halim said all programmes at state and international levels, namely the Penang International Halal Expo and Conference (PIHEC) from Aug 21 to 23, Penang
TECHFEST2020 and the World Congress on Information Technology (WCIT) from Sept 11 to 20 and Dubai Expo from October 2020 to March 2021 would continue as
planned.
“The state government will monitor the Covid-19 situation from time to time and will inform the progress accordingly,” he stressed.
Story by Danny Ooi
Pix by Alissala Thian