No more mass returnees from Singapore - Ismail Sabri

He said this was because essential services including factories producing daily essential products were still operating in Singapore.

"The factories that are producing daily essential products such as food are still not closed in Singapore. So, they (Malaysians) are still working there," he told a daily press conference on the Movement Control Order (MCO) here today.

As agreed between Malaysia and Singapore, he said that Singaporean employers or government were responsible for the welfare of Malaysians in terms of accommodation and food.

"As long as the factories (in Singapore) are not closed, no large groups are back at the same time. Only about 200 people return from Singapore to Malaysia per day via Johor Bahru.

“So far, those who have returned will have to undergo compulsory quarantine in Johor Bahru, either at the hotel or others," he said.

He said this when asked about the fate of Malaysians working in Singapore following the current situation of COVID-19.

Yesterday, 11 Malaysians were among the 623 new cases of COVID-19 reported in Singapore. So far, the republic has recorded 5,050 positive cases.

However, Ismail Sabri said the government already had a preliminary plan if Malaysians wanted to return home.

He said the entry of Malaysians from Singapore via the Johor Causeway would be done in stages and not simultaneously.

"But in the future, we don’t know (because) we have many Malaysians working in Singapore. Human Resource Minister (Datuk Seri M Saravanan) will discuss with his Singaporean counterpart, so that the entry will be done in stages and not all at once.

"If there are 1,000 people, all cannot go back at once. Maybe 200 to 300 people per day so that we can manage," he said.

Asked on the standard operating procedure (SOP) for those who commute between Johor Bahru and Singapore especially for logistics sector workers, Ismail Sabri said they must undergo health screenings at both countries' entrances.

On quarantine centre management, he said 1,589 Malaysians had returned home yesterday and they were undergoing compulsory quarantine.

As of yesterday, 190 quarantine centres are currently operating compared to 185 the previous day, where 17,008 individuals are undergoing the compulsory quarantine process, he said.

He added that a total of 11,861 Malaysians returning from overseas had been quarantined since April 3.

Ismail Sabri also hoped that more hotels could be gazetted as quarantine centres.

He said those who would like to do so could contact the National Disaster Management Agency (Nadma) and the government would offer sales and service tax (SST) exemption incentives to them.