The couple who were shown on Facebook and WhatsApp wearing pink wristbands while at the Penang Hill parking area here have been confirmed as not being persons under surveillance (PUS) for COVID-19.

Timur Laut District police chief ACP Soffian Santong said police received a report lodged by a member of the public who saw a man and woman wearing pink wristbands in the area two days ago earlier.

“We tracked them down and found that the man, 21, was a factory operator living in Permatang Tengah, Butterworth, while his girlfriend, 22, was a shop assistant living in Sungai Puyu, Butterworth.

"The couple said they had gone to a pet shop at the New World Park here at 12.30 p.m. on Sunday and the pink wristbands with the words 'Husky And The Gang' were put on them by the employees there,” he said in a statement here today.

He added that since the couple wanted to go back to the pet shop later in the night, they did not take the wristbands off as they were required by the establishment to wear them.

Soffian said investigations also found that the couple admitted they were the individuals in the photograph which went viral and they were at the Penang Hill funicular train station counter at 3 p.m. on the same day, where they waited for an hour to buy the tickets.

“However, due to the long wait for the tickets, the couple decided to go to the Queensbay Mall in Bayan Baru instead,” he said.

He added that the couple also said they had never been overseas and checks with the Health Ministry found that their names were not in the list of PUS nor had they been ordered to undergo home quarantine.

-- BERNAMA