Not wearing face masks in crowded areas tops SOP violations; 228 arrested for this offence, says Ismail Sabri

PUTRAJAYA: Not wearing a face mask while out in crowded public areas tops the list of violations of standard operating procedures (SOP) among the public, which saw police arresting 228 individuals for committing this offence.

They were among 660 people arrested for breaching SOP on Thursday (Jan 21), where 39 were remanded while 621 individuals were slapped with compounds.

Senior Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob said that other violations of SOP violations include not registering customer details (121), no social distancing (96), interstate travel without permission (54) and premises operating beyond permitted hours (63).

The taskforce monitoring SOP compliance reported that its teams had carried out 56,935 checks nationwide on Thursday, the Defence Minister said.

This includes at supermarkets (3,396), restaurants (4,953), hawkers (1,712), factories (1,062), banks (3,178) as well as government offices (639).

“On Ops Benteng, authorities arrested 24 illegal immigrants and seized 17 land vehicles. It also sighted 113 vessels that were present in Malaysian waters during surveillance, ” Ismail Sabri said on Friday (Jan 22).

On screening for foreign workers, Ismail Sabri said that the Human Resource Ministry had informed the National Security Council special meeting that 5,819 workers were tested on Thursday.

Eighty four foreign workers tested positive.

Cumulatively, 190,429 foreign workers had been screened since Jan 1 and from this, 3,739 had tested positive.

Effective Jan 1, the government has ordered for all foreign workers especially in Selangor, Negri Sembilan, Penang, Sabah, Kuala Lumpur and Labuan to be screened for Covid-19.

Ismail Sabri also said that 608 individuals had returned to the country on Thursday and all were sent to government designated quarantine facilities.

Since April 24 last year, a total of 108,922 individuals who returned to Malaysia had observed quarantine at hotels and other facilities.