KUALA LUMPUR:"Put aside everything related to politics and fight the COVID-19 pandemic for us to win this war."

That is the advice of Senior Defence Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob to the people to work together in the fight against the invisible enemy.

Ismail Sabri said all parties need to realise that COVID-19 is our common enemy.

"Put aside political differences first, any other differences. The important thing is that our enemy is a common enemy.

"God willing, if we continue to be strong, united and work together, together we will win the war against COVID-19," he said at a daily press conference on the development of the Recovery Movement Control Order (RMCO) on Thursday.

He said, although the Ministry of Health did the best strategy to fight COVID-19, every individual must practise self-control and adhere to the standard operating procedures (SOP) to break the chain of the pandemic.

In a development regarding RMCO compliance operations, he said PDRM had arrested 636 individuals on Thursday for disobeying RMCO instructions.

"Of that number, a total of 595 individuals were compounded, 38 were remanded and three were released on bail," he said.

Through the Op Benteng carried out, he said 27 illegal immigrants (PATI) were detained.

He added that nine land vehicles were also seized.