Govt to take sterner action against pubs, nightclub owners as over 600 detained on New Year's Day for violating SOP

PUTRAJAYA: Over 600 people have been detained on New Year’s Day at pubs and nightclubs, says Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob.

The Senior Minister said the individuals were nabbed for violating the government’s Covid-19 standard operating procedure (SOP), in which nightlife activities are still prohibited.

“On Jan 1, the number of arrests involving pubs and nightclub activities was 623.

“The Housing and Local Government Ministry has written to all state governments to instruct local authorities in their respective states to take sterner action against owners of pubs and nightclubs.

“This includes revoking operating licenses and blacklisting the premises involved. Issuing compounds is not enough, ” said Ismail Sabri at a press conference on Tuesday (Jan 5).

Ismail Sabri also said 152 individuals were detained for various violations of the MCO, following random checks by authorities throughout the country on Monday (Jan 4).

He said all 152 received compounds.

The violations include not wearing face masks (70 individuals), failure to provide check-in facilities for customers (64), failure to adhere to physical distancing rules (5) and other offences (13).

Ismail Sabri said the police, who are heading the government’s task force on SOP compliance, had conducted a total of 45,665 checks on Monday to monitor if the people were adhering to Covid-19 guidelines.

The checks were conducted by 2,792 enforcement teams at supermarkets, restaurants, hawker stalls, factories, banks and government buildings all over the country.

Ismail Sabri also said 29 undocumented migrants have been arrested while four land vehicles and three vessels have been seized under Ops Benteng on Monday.

Some 109 roadblocks under the Ops were also conducted throughout the country.

Ismail Sabri also said there are 7,805 travellers who have arrived in Malaysia currently undergoing mandatory quarantine at 74 hotels and 17 private and public institutions.

From July 24 to Jan 4, a total of 98,286 individuals entered the country at its various entry points.

About 89,941 have been allowed to return home while 540 have been sent to hospitals for treatment.

Meanwhile, Ismail Sabri said 99,163 foreign workers had undergone Covid-19 testing from Dec 1 to Jan 4, under screening activities by the Human Resources Ministry.

He said to date, 2,079 individuals have tested positive for the virus, while 97,084 others are negative.

He also said about 26.3 million users have downloaded the MySejahtera application, with 1.4 million businesses have registered on the platform.

“Even at kampung you can see shops or events actively using the MySejahtera app. Hopefully, the usage of the app becomes more widespread in order to ease Covid-19 case detection activities, ” he said.