KUALA LUMPUR – Two major districts in Negri Sembilan – Port Dickson and Seremban – have been placed under a two-week movement control order (MCO) effective today, following a spike in Covid-19 cases.
These districts will remain under lockdown until February 1, pending the advice of the Health Ministry, Defence Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob said in a statement today.
Ismail said the ministry recorded a drastic increase in Covid-19 infections in both districts, from a combined 35 cases to a shocking 167 in the span of two weeks.
“The implementation of this MCO is to prevent further spread of Covid-19 in the community,” he said, adding that seven of the nine sub-districts of Seremban are now red zones.
The number of cases reported in each of these seven sub-districts in the last two weeks ranges between 56 and 283.
Ismail also said the National Security Council (NSC) has agreed to end the enhanced MCO at Kg Timbang Dayang in Kota Belud, Sabah, today as scheduled.
He added that police have detained 785 people for various violations of standard operating procedures (SOPs), of whom 765 were compounded while 19 were remanded.
Among the offences were failure to wear face masks (250 cases), failure to prepare equipment to record customer details (137), operating premises beyond the permitted time or without permission (38), failure to ensure physical distancing (165), crossing districts without permission (31), and others (164).
Ismail said enforcement officers have arrested 33 illegal immigrants and confiscated four land vehicles yesterday. He added that there are 428 roadblocks nationwide.
“The government will take stern action against any party that attempts to enter the country’s borders illegally, and enforcement agencies will continue to tighten surveillance in border areas, especially on rat lanes.”
Ismail said the Housing and Local Government Ministry has carried out 14,066 sanitisation operations since March last year.
Yesterday, a total of 66 sanitisation operations were carried out involving 31 red zones, four orange zones, three yellow zones, and four green zones.
So far, a total of 108,748 people have returned to the country and placed at 31 hotels and 15 public and private training institutes nationwide. From the total, 8,346 underwent mandatory quarantine while 540 were sent to hospitals for treatment.
Ismail said that until yesterday, a total of 14,376 inspections have been carried out at 8,139 construction sites nationwide.
He added that inspections were mounted at 12 construction sites around Malaysia yesterday. All were found to be in operation and abiding by SOPs. – The Vibes, January 18, 2021
