COVID-19: Period for PATI to come forward voluntarily has long ended - Ismail Sabri

No pardon has been granted to illegal immigrants (PATI) but the government has given the permission for the group to come forward to undergo COVID-19 screening tests without any documents.

However, Senior Minister (Security Cluster) Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob said the period for such offer has already expired.

In this regard, he said, the government has again adopted the approach to 'hunt' for them to ensure the transmission of COVID-19 in the country can be curtailed.

"I was at the press conference announcing that they would be allowed to undergo screening without a document but none of them came forward.

"So, it was an offer but not a pardon. It was an offer to examine them without a document, but that is now over. So, the action by the Immigration Department is to look for them.

"The action to search for them and arrest them continues," he said at a press conference here on Sunday.

Ismail Sabri said the arrested PATI would be placed in the detention depots and made to undergo COVID-19 screening tests.

Those who are positive, he said, will be sent to a special hospital at the Malaysia Agro Exposition Park Serdang (MAEPS) while the negative ones will be sent back to their countries of origin.