KUALA LUMPUR: Senior Minister for Security Ismail Sabri Yaakob says Putrajaya is mulling tighter SOPs to curb the spread of Covid-19. This comes after much speculation of a full movement control order (MCO) being reimposed.
In a press conference today, he told Malaysians to wait for Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin to announce the next course of action on Monday.
Rumours of an MCO with a full lockdown, similar to one that had been imposed between March and May last year, has been making its rounds on social media, with Malaysia recording four-digit daily infections since November last year.
“The government is studying and evaluating the actions that need to be taken immediately to control the spread of Covid-19. This includes tighter SOPs, involving social sectors, to reduce movement and the risk of spreading the virus,” Ismail said.
He said because of the increase in the number of illegal immigrants entering the country from Pulau Ketam, Selangor, the government had decided to build a floating barge for closer monitoring .
As of 2019, he said 328 illegal immigrants had been arrested there and the number had increased to 2,000 in 2020.
On the matter of mandatory screening for foreign workers in six states and federal territories, namely Selangor, Negeri Sembilan, Kuala Lumpur, Penang, Sabah and Labuan, he said 119,940 foreign workers had been screened.
Of that number, 2,574 had tested positive.
On the matter of teachers and lecturers returning to Sabah and Sarawak as schools and universities will be reopening soon, he said the health ministry will bear the cost of the swab tests.
He added that Sarawak will also bear the quarantine cost for teachers and lecturers returning to the state.
On the daily offences, he said police arrested 277 people yesterday over movement control order-related offences.
Ismail said 276 were issued compound fines while one person was remanded.
Among the offences were participating in activities at entertainment centres, failure to wear face masks and failing to provide materials for contact tracing or registration.
A total of 2,783 compliance task force teams were deployed to conduct checks on supermarkets, restaurants, hawker stalls, factories, banks, among others.
Ismail also said police arrested 26 illegal immigrants and seized nine vehicles under Op Benteng.
He added that 839 people had arrived through KLIA yesterday and all are currently undergoing mandatory quarantine.
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