On the spot compound should be issued to SOP violators - Ismail Sabri

Senior Minister (Security Cluster) Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob said the move was to dispel misunderstanding among the people that the government seemed to give special treatment to the group.

Ismail Sabri said many issues emerged regarding how authorities treat the haves and the have-nots who flouted the SOP.

"We are of the view that the police should issue a compound immediately to anyone found violating the SOP especially those involving VIPs such as celebrities and politicians," he said adding there was no need to wait for weeks to get a decision from the Attorney General's Chambers because the police were allowed to issue compound on the field as provided by the act.

Ismail Sabri said this at a joint media conference with Health Director-General Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah here today.

ISMAIL SABRI-MCO (COMPOUND) 2 (LAST) PUTRAJAYA

On closing the manufacturing sector due to the rising number of COVID-19 cases, he said the government was making improvements in terms of assessment to detect factories that are flouting the prescribed SOP, adding so far, a total of 70 factories were ordered shut for violating the SOP.

Meanwhile, Dr Noor Hisham said although the country was facing a health emergency, the implementation of MCO 3.0 provided space for the Ministry of Health (MOH) to plan strategies to address the surge in the number of COVID-19 patients.

To date, he said the use of beds in the intensive care unit (ICU) had reached 500 and the ministry would need more than 1,700 beds in the ICU to accommodate patients if there was a sudden surge in COVID-19 cases at the end of May or middle of June.

"With this emergency ordinance, we can postpone the general election, by-elections or state elections. We have seen the implications of the Sabah by-election," he said.

Dr Noor Hisham said MCO 3.0 was enforced to help the MOH and to allow people to stay home to curb the spread of the outbreak.