Three areas in Kudat to be placed under EMCO from Oct 30 - Ismail Sabri

He said the EMCO, which will affect 2,393 homes and 13,884 people, was due to a spike in positive COVID-19 cases in the three areas.

“The EMCO standard operating procedure (SOP) is the same as the one announced earlier. However, sundry shops will be allowed to operate from 6 am to 6 pm so that the residents can purchase essential items,” he said at a press conference on the latest development of the Recovery MCO today.

Meanwhile, Ismail Sabri said the Conditional MCO in Labuan would be extended for another 14 days from Oct 31 to Nov 13 as there was still an increase in COVID-19 cases.

“Previously, the CMCO in Labuan was from Oct 17 to Oct 30. The Ministry of Health (MOH) is still carrying out targeted screening of residents in Labuan and, so far, there is still a rise in positive cases,” he said.

Meanwhile, he said 508 individuals were detained yesterday for flouting the MCO and, of the total, 501 were compounded, six remanded one released on bail.

Ismail Sabri said among the offences were for not wearing face mask (160), not providing facilities for recording details of customers (113), not observing physical distancing (97), premises operating beyond stipulated business hours (33), activities at entertainment centres (10) and others (95).

He said the three states with the highest number of individuals compounded were Kuala Lumpur (192 people), Selangor (155) and Sabah (36).

He also said that 18 foreigners were arrested and three land vehicles seized under Ops Benteng yesterday.

“There is a drop in the number of arrests… our method this time is more towards turning away (the illegal immigrants) than to detain them.

“We will have to bear a high cost to care for them and, at the same time, this is risky as there is a possibility they may be carrying the COVID-19 virus. So, before they can enter our border area, we turn them away,” he said.

Ismail Sabri also said that 55,833 Malaysians returned to the country from abroad via international entry points since July 24 until yesterday and placed in 64 hotels and 17 other premises, including public training institutes (ILA) and private educational institutions nationwide.

“Of the total, 381 individuals have been sent to hospital for treatment while 46,450 have been discharged and allowed to go home,” he said.