EMCO in Tapah Prison, staff quarters from Feb 16 until March 1

He said the EMCO would make it easier for the Health Ministry (MOH) to conduct targeted screening on all inmates, staff and their close contacts to curb the spread of the virus in the community.

“To date, the MOH has conducted 187 screening tests on close contacts, of which 55 COVID-19 positive cases have been recorded,” he said in a statement on the Movement Control Order (MCO) developments today.

He added that the existing standard operating procedures (SOP) for the EMCO would apply for the prison, with movement in and out of the prison and visits by family members not allowed.

Meanwhile, Ismail Sabri said the government has also agreed to extend the EMCO at the Sungai Udang Prison in Melaka starting Feb 17 until March 2, excluding its staff quarters, while the Low-Risk Quarantine and Treatment Centre (PKRC) at the prison would end its operation tomorrow as scheduled.

Ismail Sabri also announced that the EMCO at the Kampung Sungai Ud, Dalat, Sarawak; as well as Felcra Nasaruddin and Felda Bersia in Perak would end tomorrow.

He said the decision was made after a risk assessment was carried out with various agencies under the MCO Technical Committee.

On violations of the MCO SOP, he said 1,111 individuals were arrested yesterday, with 1,040 of them compounded while 71 others remanded.

Among the offences are inter-district and state travel without permission (306 cases), not maintaining physical distance (300) and failure to provide equipment to record customer details (107).

On Op Benteng, Ismail Sabri said a total of 22 illegal immigrants were detained yesterday and six land vehicles were also seized.

He said 5,402 foreign workers have undergone the screening tests yesterday and 11 of them turned out to be COVID-19 positive.

“Cumulatively, the Human Resource Ministry informed that 373,587 foreign workers have undergone COVID-19 screening tests involving 16,969 employers, and from the total, 7,234 people were confirmed positive,” he said.