Man under investigation over claims of being able to dine in unvaccinated

KOTA BHARU (Bernama): A trader is being investigated by the police after uploading a picture on Facebook, claiming to have eaten at a restaurant despite not being vaccinated with the Covid-19 vaccine.

Kelantan police chief Datuk Shafien Mamat said the 43-year-old man uploaded a post that read "not even a dose yet can still dine in too... Morning..all" on Sept 11, before a Twitter account holder made a screenshot of his Facebook post on Wednesday (Sept 22).

He said an investigation was carried to determine whether there was a violation of standard operating procedures (SOP) of the National Recovery Plan (NRP) currently being implemented.

"Acting on the information, a police report has been lodged at the Pasir Puteh Police Station to enable an investigation into the incident. Police have traced the owner of the Facebook account and he was called to the Pasir Puteh District Police Headquarters on Wednesday to assist in the investigation.

"The investigation found that the man claimed that the picture uploaded was a picture of an unknown individual taken from a WhatsApp group. The man also claimed that the purpose of uploading the picture was just a joke with no other intentions," he said in a statement on Thursday (Sept 23).

Shafien said the investigations found that the man had not yet registered for the Covid-19 vaccine on the grounds of wanting to see if other vaccine recipients suffer from side effects or reactions.

"The case is being investigated under Section 269/506 (b) of the Penal Code, Section 22 (b) of the Prevention and Control of Infectious Diseases Act 1988 and Section 233 of the Communications and Multimedia Act 1998," he said. - Bernama