KUALA LUMPUR:The Enhanced Movement Control Order (EMCO) for the Amber Court Apartment and Ria Apartment in Bentong district, Pahang has been extended from Dec 24 to Jan 6, 2021, said Senior Minister (Security Cluster) Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob.

However, the EMCO for the Kampung Semaut kongsi house in the same district will end tomorrow, he said.

“For Amber Court Apartment, the Health Ministry (MOH) has conducted 1,183 screening tests, with 381 found to be COVID-19 positive while 85 are still awaiting their results.

“MOH has also conducted 1,041 screening tests at Ria Apartment and confirmed there are risks of new infections being detected while there are close contacts of positive cases who need to be tested,” he told a press conference on the Recovery Movement Control Order (RMCO) here today.

He said the screenings conducted on Kampung Semaut kongsi house residents found only three were symptomatic and RTK antigen tests done on them again turned out negative.

On Dec 9, Ismail Sabri announced that the three localities would be placed under the EMCO from Dec 10 to 23 after 55 positive COVID-19 cases were detected in the mukim, the majority involving migrant workers.

Meanwhile, Ismail Sabri said 274 investigation papers had been opened by the police and the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) in connection with fake news on COVID-19 so far, with 137 cases still under investigation, 35 having been charged in court, 12 given warning notices and 90 classified as no further action.

On enforcement of the COVID-19 standard operating procedure (SOP), he said 122 individuals were arrested and issued with compound fines for breaching the SOP yesterday.

The offences included not wearing face masks (52), not providing equipment for recording personal particulars (39), failing to practise physical distancing (29) and others (two), he added.

He said apart from this, 63 illegal immigrants were arrested and four land vehicles seized under Op Benteng yesterday.

On compulsory quarantine, 89,984 individuals who returned to the country between July 24 and yesterday had been placed at 77 hotels and 16 other premises, including public training institutes, throughout the country.

“Of this number, 7,537 individuals are still undergoing compulsory quarantine, 535 have been sent to hospital for treatment and 81,912 have been allowed to return home,” he said.

-- BERNAMA