KUALA LUMPUR – The enhanced movement control order (EMCO) imposed on the Bentong and Taiping prisons, along with their respective staff quarters, is being extended from February 9 to 22 due to spiking Covid-19 cases there.
Senior Minister (Security Cluster) Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob said in a statement that the Health Ministry has detected 13 cases at the Bentong prison in Pahang since Friday.
“At present, 2,085 individuals have been screened, including detainees, staff, and close contacts, with 767 positive cases recorded,” he said.
He said that the EMCO was enforced to curb the spread of the virus to other inmates, staffers, family members, and nearby communities.
The Taiping prison and staff quarters in Perak have undergone 544 screenings, with 112 positive cases detected involving 90 detainees, 21 prison staff and one family member.
“The ministry also confirmed that 40 test samples are still awaiting results,” Ismail said.
On a positive note, he said the EMCO at the Jelebu prison transit block in Negri Sembilan was lifted today after all 49 patients made full recoveries.
Ismail also said that some 789 individuals were arrested yesterday for flouting the movement control order (MCO) standard operating procedures (SOPs).
In his daily Covid-19 update, he said that 764 people were issued with compounds while another 21 were put under remand. Four posted bail yesterday.
“Among the offences recorded are not wearing face masks (191 cases), crossing district/state borders without permission (160 cases), no physical distancing (110 cases), failure to prepare record-keeping equipment for customers (128 cases), premises operating beyond the approved time/without approval (41 cases), leaving the house without a good reason (23 cases), and others (136 cases),” he said.
Meanwhile, 20 illegal migrants were arrested and four land transport vehicles were seized under Ops Benteng yesterday. The authorities also detected 79 boats and other sea vessels in Malaysian seas, as well as two land vehicles by officials, during seven observational field missions.
In total, Ops Benteng saw its participating agencies conducting 540 roadblocks yesterday.
On foreign worker Covid-19 screenings, the ministry reported that 28 out of 7,003 individuals tested were found to be Covid-19 positive yesterday.
“Cumulatively, since December 1, a total of 312,623 foreign workers have been screened for Covid-19, including 13,533 employers.
“Of these, 6,093 were found to be Covid-19-positive while 306,530 were negative,” said Ismail Sabri, adding that 1,268 clinics are taking part in the screening programme.
On February 1, the government made it mandatory for all employers to ensure their foreign workers undergo Covid-19 screenings, with the costs borne by employers. – The Vibes, February 7, 2021
