The government does not practise favouritism in the matter of quarantine centre placement for returning Malaysians as alleged in viral social media reports yesterday, said Senior Minister (Security Cluster), Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob.

He said the government only pays for the placement cost of up to RM150 per person daily, including for food and beverage, and those who chose to be quarantined at hotels which charge more than this have to bear the extra costs.

Ismail Sabri, who is also Defence Minister, said Malaysians returning from overseas can choose from a list of 45 hotels designated by the government as quarantine centres for easy monitoring.

"The government (designated) ones are three or four-star hotels; it’s up to the hotel operators to give discounts.

"But others were picked by individuals who wished to pay on their own, that’s why there are hotels decided by us,” he told a press conference after a meeting of the Special Ministerial Committee on the Movement Control Order (MCO) here today.

Ismail Sabri explained that in the initial stage hotels were picked as quarantine centres because of requests from foreign diplomatic missions, whose staff also have to be quarantined upon entering Malaysia.

"This is because there is no exemption and all those returning from overseas including foreign diplomats have to be quarantined. If they come back to our country, they have to be quarantined also.

"So they asked to be placed at hotels, with the costs to be borne by their respective embassies,” he added.

Ismail Sabri said there were also returning Malaysians who chose to be quarantined at hotels and were willing to pay their own costs.

He said although they might be staying at hotels, the standard operating procedure (SOP) is the same as for other quarantine centres, including being barred from leaving their rooms or receiving visitors.

"So if they were to choose hotels as they like outside of the listed ones, we would definitely have difficulty in monitoring (them). Imagine a hotel in Petaling Jaya with five people, in Putrajaya with five people; it would be difficult for the government to monitor,” he said.

On Malaysians stranded overseas, he said the government was concerned about them and the Foreign Ministry would discuss whether to bring them back.

"However, the number of Malaysians (in some places) may not be big. For example, yesterday I received a message from those in Chad, an African country, where there are seven of them.

"The Foreign Ministry is closely looking into this. There are also three in Bahamas...we can’t send an aircraft to bring them home,” he said.

Ismail Sabri said Wisma Putra would seek the best method to resolve this problem. - BERNAMA