MCO violation arrests up 51 per cent - Ismail Sabri

Senior Minister (Security Cluster) Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob said the increase could be due to many had taken advantage of the weekend to go out.

"Before this, I was proud that the percentage and the number of arrests had dropped for four days in a row.

"...do not take advantage of the weekend to go out," he said after a special Cabinet meeting here today.

Ismail Sabri, who is also Defence Minister said of the 554 people arrested, 489 individuals were remanded while 65 were granted bail.

He said strict enforcement was needed throughout the ongoing MCO period after a Health Ministry report showed that there was an increase in the number of COVID-19 positive cases in the country.

Ismail Sabri said since the MCO came into force on March 18, a total of 6,048 people had been detained for violating the order.

He said yesterday, 743 roadblocks were mounted nationwide with 293,051 vehicles inspected.

"At the same time, a total of 25,818 spot checks were conducted and 4,822 premises were checked by the authorities," he said.

On the public sanitisation operations, Ismail Sabri said to date, 56 areas in nine states including 27 in Johor and six in Sarawak had been sanitised in efforts to curb the spread of COVID-19.

"The sanitisation operations were also conducted at 19 government buildings and three People's Housing Projects (PPRs), involving 4,872 house units.

"As of yesterday, the operations had been carried out at seven PPRs involving 8,944 house units and surrounding areas including surau, multipurpose halls and playgrounds," Ismail Sabri said.