Swimming Activities Must Be In Accordance To SOPs - Minister

KUALA LUMPUR, June 20 (Bernama) -- Participants and operators involved with training at swimming pools need to adhere to strict standard operating procedures (SOPs) for indoor water sports, says Youth and Sports Minister Reezal Merican Naina Merican. He said the Special Ministerial Committee meeting Thursday had agreed to the reopening of swimming pools for non-contact training activities. “Swimming training activities, including diving, are allowed in the pool according to the specified sessions, and the number of people in each session should also be limited based on the pool’s capacity for two categories of participants or swimmers. “The two categories are national, state and club athletes or swimming academies under certain training programmes; and participants of level-based training programmes such as learn to swim programmes,” he said in a statement Friday. Reezal said there were 14 things in the general SOP for individuals such as registering with the MySejahtera application; wearing facemasks before and after training; maintaining social distance in the pool; not spitting; no handshakes or close physical contact, and minimising social interaction. Additional SOPs for water sports training in pools is that participants must ensure training is conducted in a standard pool for training and competition, and ensure that swimming pool users maintained self-cleanliness before using the pool. Meanwhile, pool operators, clubs and swimming academies are required to comply with 22 points in the General Management SOP such as displaying QR codes for individuals to register themselves at the premises; and internal procedures / SOPs relevant to the operators, clubs and academies in accordance with the National Security Council’s guidelines. Reezal Merican said swimming pools would be reopened for training from next Thursday (June 25, 2020) to allow pool operators, clubs and swimming academies some time to prepare, come up with internal SOPs and clean their premises. “On behalf of KBS and all the water sports industry players, I would like to express my gratitude to Senior Minister (Security Cluster) Ismail Sabri Yaakob and the Special Ministerial Committee to approve the reopening of the pool water sports sector," he said. -- BERNAMA