Foreigners must pay quarantine charges, COVID-19 test upon arrival - Ismail Sabri

Foreigners allowed to enter Malaysia will have to pay quarantine charges and COVID-19 detection test fees upon arrival at the country’s entry points, said Senior Minister (Security Cluster), Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob.

He said that this is because there are foreigners who have been allowed to enter the country and yet refusing to pay the cost after being sent to a hotel or Public Training Institute (ILA), to undergo quarantine.

“Any foreign national who fails to do so will be subject to a 'Not-to-Land' (NTL) order by the Immigration Department,” he said at a press conference on the development of the Recovery Movement Control Order (RMCO) at the Parliament building here today.

Ismail Sabri said that from July 24 until yesterday, a total of 10,173 individuals had returned to Malaysia via the country’s entry points and all had been placed in one of 59 hotels and five ILAs in Kuala Lumpur, Selangor, Negeri Sembilan, Penang, Johor, Sarawak, Kelantan, Perak, Perlis, Kedah and Labuan.

Of the total, he said that 44 individuals were taken to hospital for treatment while 2,332 individuals were discharged and allowed to return home.

He said that officers from the Ministry of Health (MOH) together with police officers had also conducted 1,367 surprise checks yesterday on individuals undergoing mandatory home quarantine and action was taken against two of them.

Ismail Sabri also said that from July 24 to yesterday, police have taken action against 270 individuals who failed to comply with house quarantine.

He said that actions included stern warnings against Sivagangga cluster index cases.

Earlier today, the owner of the Nasi Kandar Salleh restaurant in Napoh, Kubang Pasu was sentenced to five months in jail and fined RM12,000 by the Alor Setar Magistrate’s Court.

Nezar Mohamed Sabur Batcha, 57, pleaded guilty to four charges of disobeying a home surveillance order on July 14, sparking the cluster.

In the meantime, Ismail Sabri reminded Malaysians to continue complying with standard operating procedures, including downloading the MySejahtera application to facilitate easy detection of those at high risk.

“I don’t want to nag but I will remind you every time as this is for our benefit. The incident that happened in Kedah, Perlis (Sivagangga Cluster) was totally unexpected. We have single digits, zero local transmission cases, but due to our non-compliance, cases shoot up again,” he said. - BERNAMA