Ismail Sabri: 785 detained for breaching SOPs including 250 who did not wear face masks on Sunday (Jan 17)

PUTRAJAYA: Police arrested 250 people for failing to wear face masks in crowded public places, says Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob.

They were among 785 individuals who were arrested for breaching various Covid-19 standard operating procedures (SOPs) on Sunday (Jan 17).

A total of 765 people were slapped with compounds, 19 remanded and one individual was released on bail.

The Senior Minister said that other offences committed were interstate travel without permission (31), failure to record customers' details (137), operating beyond permitted business hours (38), and not practising social distancing (165).

The task force monitoring SOP compliance reported that 45,346 checks were made on Sunday.

This includes checks on supermarkets (3,591), restaurants (4,697), traders (1,604) and factories (1,320).

“On Ops Benteng, 33 arrests were made against undocumented migrants on Sunday. Four land vehicles were also seized in the nationwide operation to stop illegal entry of foreigners, ” he said on Monday (Jan 18)

Ismail Sabri said that authorities carried out checks on 12 construction sites on Sunday and found that SOPs were followed.

Since April 20 last year, the Construction Industry Development Board (CIDB) enforcement teams had made 14,746 checks involving 8,139 construction sites.

On mandatory quarantine at government-designated stations for those returning from abroad, the Senior Minister said there are currently 8,346 individuals observing quarantine.

Since July 24 last year, a total of 106,748 individuals who returned to the country were sent for quarantine at hotels or other facilities.

On public sanitisation operations, 66 sanitisation exercises were carried out in various zones and states across the country on Sunday.