COVID: Time to increase compound fine - IGP

KUALA LUMPUR: Police believe it's time to raise the current compound fine of RM1,000 imposed on offenders found flouting the standard operating procedure (SOP) for the Movement Control Order (MCO) following a spike in COVID-19 cases nationwide.

Inspector-General of Police Tan Sri Abdul Hamid Bador said each week police would issue thousands of summonses to individuals for violating the SOP, with the majority being for not adhering to physical distancing.

To make matters worse, he said, there were some who even made interdistrict and interstate travels without valid reasons.

"If the RM1,000 compound is considered small, then those who are stubborn will surely pay the price when the move to raise the compound fine is gazetted. The time has come for the compound fine to be increased,” he said when contacted by Bernama today.

He said he had instructed his personnel to issue summonses to offenders by not giving them leeway to be let off with a warning.

Abdul Hamid said that since police began to enforce the latest MCO, a total of 474 personnel had tested positive for COVID-19 while 1,628 others had undergone quarantine.

“It is very sad indeed when our infected frontliners have to be treated by another group of frontliners at hospitals,” he said.

There has been a surge in COVID-19 cases nationwide of late, with the number of daily cases nearing the 6,000 mark after 5,725 cases were reported yesterday and 5,728 today.

-- BERNAMA