Distribution of free face masks in Sabah, Sarawak begins today - Ismail Sabri

The government will be distributing free face masks in Sabah and Sarawak starting today.

Senior Minister (Security Cluster) Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob said so far, a total of 23.4 million or 69 per cent of face masks to households nationwide had been distributed.

"The government has allocated 32.4 million face masks for distribution.

"It is distributed by the APM (Malaysian Defence Forces) to the states and delegated to the district Disaster Management Centres and distributed through the frontliners of each district.

"In Sabah and Sarawak, distribution will begin today," he said at a press conference here Tuesday.

Earlier, Ismail Sabri had announced that the masks would be distributed to 8.63 million households by the State and District Disaster Management Committee.

He said the government had also carried out 3,040 public sanitation operations involving 107 zones nationwide as of Monday. It included 30 red zone areas.

"Yesterday (April 20), a total of 250 sanitation operations covered 78 zones in 14 states, including 44 in Johor and 27 in Terengganu.

"Yesterday's sanitation operations included 159 government buildings, 111 public places, 133 business centres and 9 supermarkets," he said.

At the same time, the government also allowed private companies to provide sanitation services but subject to the MOH guidelines.