KUALA LUMPUR, July 26 — The police will begin arresting those who do not obtain the second Covid-19 test at the end of their mandatory home quarantine, said Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob.
In a statement today, the senior minister said all those arrested will then be prosecuted.
He previously disclosed that nearly 3,000 of this group have still not taken the compulsory test.
“Starting tomorrow, the police will take action by arresting and prosecuting individuals who haven’t stepped forward to take their second Covid-19 test on the 13th day of their home quarantine period.
“We are instructing these individuals to contact their nearest district health office to do their second test,” said Ismail.
The minister also said 839 returnees have been sent to designated quarantine centres since July 24, after the government decided to stop home quarantine due to poor compliance.
He repeated that those who undergo the mandatory quarantine will have to bear full accommodation costs, be it in hotels or other quarantine centres.
He said the returnees arrived from Indonesia, Singapore, Vietnam, Brunei, Qatar, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Hong Kong, India, UAE, Japan, Turkey, South Korea, Iran, Bangladesh, China and Australia.
Apart from that, he said 266 investigation papers have been opened by the police and the Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) regarding the spread of fake news regarding Covid-19.
From that total, 172 cases are still under investigation while 30 were charged, 12 were given warnings, 13 were facing trial, and 17 have pleaded guilty.
“There have been no additional investigation papers opened by the MCMC and the police for more than two monhs which shows the level of awareness the people have towards the spread of fake news,” said Ismail.
“Despite that, the police and MCMC are reviewing several more reports.
“The government takes the spread of fake news very seriously and we will not compromise on this.”
