SOP for exchange of ship crew members tightened to prevent spread of COVID-19

Senior Minister (Security Cluster) Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob said crew members scheduled to undergo the Signing-On process are now required to undergo COVID-19 swab test upon arrival at Malaysia's international port.

"If tested positive, they will be sent to a hospital for treatment. And those tested negative will be required to undergo 14-day mandatory quarantine at the quarantine station and to take the second swab test on the 13th day.

"If they are still tested negative, they will be allowed to proceed to the Signing-On process at the port," he told a press conference on the development of the Recovery Movement Control Order (RMCO) at the Parliament Building here.

He said the cost of the 14-day mandatory quarantine and the COVID-19 swab tests will be fully borne by their employers.

Ismail Sabri said the same process would be required by crew members who will be Signing-Off at the port and those tested positive would be sent to the hospital, while those tested negative would be allowed to proceed to the KL International Airport (KLIA) to return to their respective country.

He said prior to this, sailors whose ships are docking at ports in the country were allowed to return to their respective country without undergoing any quarantine process.

However, some of the crew members had failed to comply with the SOP and were found to have gone out to shop, causing the spread of the virus among the locals, he said.

Recently, 17 foreign sailors were compounded RM1,000 for defying quarantine order by going shopping at a hypermarket in Labuan, Sabah.