KUALA LUMPUR: Less than 24 hours after Prime Minister Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin announced the implementation of a nationwide total lockdown starting June 1, traffic congestion was reported on highways heading towards the east coast and south.

Pictures of the traffic congestion which have been making their rounds on social media have also caught the attention of Health director-general Tan Sri Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah who expressed concern over the matter, despite the inter-district and interstate travel ban.

Dr Noor Hisham also uploaded two pictures of the traffic crawl at the Sungai Besi Toll Plaza and the Gombak Toll Plaza.

"Massive movements are still taking place although the ban on inter-district and interstate travel has been issued," he said.

Dr Noor Hisham said carrying infection from one area to another would not help the government's efforts to curb the spread of COVID-19.

"Stay at home and only go out if you need to settle urgent matters. Help save the country's health system which will be paralysed if the increase in COVID-19 cases is uncontrollable.

"If we (health system) collapse, you and your family members may not receive the best health care. It would be unfortunate if there are no more beds for you in the hospital, especially if you are critically ill and intensive care unit (ICU) beds are fully occupied.

"Frontliners are exhausted, but we still have to work tirelessly, to save lives," he said.

The post has since garnered over 19,000 shares and 7,000 comments with some of them describing those on the road as stubborn and urging stern action to be taken against these people.

"They are just plain stubborn," commented a Facebook user, Cindy Lim, while another Nur Azielah Yahaya expressed her sympathy to the country's frontliners who would have to face the consequences due to the stubbornness.

Meanwhile, Gombak district police chief ACP Arifai Tarawe, when contacted by Bernama said the up to two-kilometre congestion at the Gombak Toll Plaza heading towards Bentong, Pahang was due to stringent checks by personnel manning the roadblock in the area.

He said so far, 12 individuals have been ordered to turn back for not having a permission letter for interstate travel.

Kuala Lumpur Traffic Investigation and Enforcement Department chief ACP Zulkefly Yahya said the majority of road users at the Sungai Besi Toll Plaza and Jalan Duta Toll Plaza had a verification letter from their employer.

Meanwhile, Dr Noor Hisham, on his Twitter account today called upon all health frontliners to continue the fight against the COVID-19.

"To all our frontliners, although we have many sleepless nights and experienced chronic fatigue, let us all wipe our tears, chin up again, eyes forward and prepare for the huge battle against COVID-19 again," he said.

Within an hour, his tweet has garnered more than 3,000 retweets and received hundreds of encouragement words from Twitter users.

-- BERNAMA