Covid-19: Five passengers entering Malaysia hospitalised

SHAH ALAM: Five passengers who flew in to Malaysia on Sunday (April 5) have been hospitalised after showing symptoms similar to Covid-19.

Selangor police spokesman on Covid-19, Asst Comm Ismail Muslim (pic), said the five were among 1,205 passengers who flew into the country in 12 flights.

“The five were taken to the Sungai Buloh Hospital, while the rest have already been screened and tested negative, ” he told reporters at the state police headquarters here on Monday (April 6).

He added that the passengers flew in from Bangkok, New Delhi, London, Jakarta, Doha, Fudong in China, Hong Kong, Chennai, Manila, Auckland and Melbourne.

They will all undergo the mandatory 14-day quarantine.

ACP Ismail said currently there were five hotels being used as quarantine centres in the state, including Hilton, Fox Lite DPulze Cyberjaya and Grand Dorsett Subang Jaya, with 262 people under quarantine at these hotels.

He said police have set up 94 roadblocks in the state to enforce the second phase of the movement control order (MCO).

“We set up an additional 42 roadblocks in districts statewide since the second phase began on April 1.

“Prior to that, there were 52 roadblocks manned by our personnel around the clock.

“In the first five days of the second phase, we arrested 513 individuals for defying the MCO, ” he said.

ACP Ismail added that arrests during this period show a drastic increase compared to the three arrested during the first five days of phase one.

“During the first phase, we were leaning more towards advising the public to stay home, but now we have tightened our operations and are not compromising with people who loiter, ” he said.

He said based on their observations, the rate of compliance in the state was at 93%.

"We have arrested 1,225 individuals for defying the MCO, including 71 women.

"We also have charged 57 cases in court under Section 186 of the Penal Code and Rule 7(1) of the Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases, ” he said.

He said police have also conducted 3,124 snap checks to ensure compliance of the MCO in the state.

"On our personnel, at this moment we have six officers and 37 rank and file personnel under self quarantine at home, while another 87 personnel have been cleared," he said.