The government has allowed all 7,000 registered pediatric nurseries nationwide to operate immediately.

Senior Minister (Security Cluster) Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob said 6,696 more nurseries were allowed to operate on Tuesday.

Earlier, he said, the government had allowed 304 of the 7,000 nurseries to operate.

He said the Ministry of Women, Family and Community Development (KPWKM) had presented the standard operating procedures (SOPs) streamlined in connection with the operation to the special ministerial meeting.

“They (nursery operators) can refer to the SOP that I mentioned earlier through the KPWKM website and also the Department of Social Welfare (JKM) for more detailed information, so that they can start the operation.

"So, we hope that with the opening of the nurseries, it does not raise the issue of working parents being unable to work because they have to look after their children at home and so on.

"So, there should no longer any issue of employers asking parents to go on unpaid leave to care for their children," he said at a press conference here on Tuesday.

On the SOP for the nurseries and childcare centres, Ismail Sabri said the government had agreed to have the Ministry of Education coordinate the care centres nationwide.

“This is because the management of nurseries and childcare centres are under the jurisdiction of various ministeries,” he said.